


Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon," 1/?

by Lexalicious70



Category: Moonlight (TV), Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-29
Updated: 2010-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-27 15:51:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1716149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexalicious70/pseuds/Lexalicious70
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon (Chapter One).  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[**lexalicious70**](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy. Thanks to [](http://dreamwvr73.livejournal.com/profile)[**dreamwvr73**](http://dreamwvr73.livejournal.com/) and [](http://cinderella81.livejournal.com/profile)[**cinderella81**](http://cinderella81.livejournal.com/) for extra read-throughs and cheerleading! Love you, ladies!

[ ](http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h25/Lexi2070/?action=view&current=NetpuneCoverFinal.jpg)

 

By the Light of Neptune's Moon. (Chapter One).  
By [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[**lexalicious70**](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)

Josef Kostan stood at the window of his high-rise luxury office as he watched what his people called the vampire sunrise. The sun was nothing but an orange sliver of fire on the horizon that tinged the thin scuds of clouds with a smeared salmon color. Josef had always felt the power of the possibilities that came with each new sunset, but tonight, the coming of the night only filled him with tension. It was eleven days until the next full moon—a Blood Moon—and he was running out of time.

“Spinning daydreams again, Josef?” Mick St. John asked as he came into the office, and Josef glanced over his shoulder at his best friend.

“As you can see, the day is almost gone.”

“It is,” Mick nodded, “but you look like you’ve got something important on your mind.”

“I have to go, Mick,” Josef said, and Mick went to the window.

“Go? Where?”

“To Neptune. It’s not far from here, so I shouldn’t be gone long . . . a few days, at most.”

“Neptune.” Mick shook his head. “We’ve been over this. You know you can’t just stroll in there! It’s not your territory.”

“What is it is or isn’t doesn’t matter anymore, Mick.” Josef turned away from the window. “I asked you to come here because I have some new information about Aaron Echolls.”

“New information about what?”

“The kind that tells me I can no longer peacefully co-exist with him on the same planet anymore.” Josef went over to his desk and picked up a manila folder.

“You know how powerful he is,” Mick said. “Or have you forgotten what he did to you almost twenty years ago?”

“I haven’t, of course!” Josef glanced up sharply. “He killed six of my friends and almost killed me!”

“If you haven’t forgotten, then—”

“Look at these.” Josef slapped the folder into Mick’s hands. Mick flipped it open and glanced briefly at a report on top of some photos before he turned it aside to reveal several color photos, glossy 8x10’s. Mick stared in disbelief and touched the image as if he wanted to make sure it was real.

“Josef, he’s—”

“He’s me,” Josef nodded. “Only human.” He smiled, but there was no humor in it. “A son.”

Mick stared down at the photograph. It featured a headshot of a young man in his late teens, and his facial features were identical to Josef’s—the same slightly curved lips, the straight, finely-shaped nose, the deep-set and dark hazel eyes with long lashes. The only difference was that the youth’s brunette hair was highlighted blonde, and he wore a string of red and white beads around his neck.

“Who is he?” Mick asked.

“His name is Logan Echolls. Aaron has raised him as his own since my escape nineteen years ago. I’m assuming that he implanted what he stole from me, along with some magical elements in order to make a viable embryo, into his wife without her knowledge. I’m sure she assumed it was a natural birth.”

“Wait, are you saying that Lynn Echolls didn’t know that her husband is a warlock and a vampire hunter?”

“I doubt very few people know. Look at us, Mick . . . we live here among humans every day, and they’re none the wiser. Aaron is wealthy and famous, and people assume that it’s talent or dumb luck, depending on how you feel about his acting ability, but the truth is that he’s used his magic and power to get where he is today.”

“He’s a vampire hunter . . . he’s killed hundreds of our kind over the years. If it’s his mission to wipe us out, why would he raise your son as his own?”

Josef moved over and picked up the report from the folder.

“There’s a Blood Moon in eleven days, Mick. You’ve heard of it?”

“I thought it was just vampire lore.”

“It’s more than lore. A Blood Moon only happens once every four hundred years. It’s a time of possibility and incredible power. Those like us and other non-human entities can feel its approach. Its power has been tapped in the past, but it’s incredibly dangerous to do so. Someone like Aaron wouldn’t hesitate to try, though.” Josef went to a set of bookshelves in the corner and pulled down a large, leather-bound book. He set it open to several pages that featured a depiction of what appeared to be a ritual sacrifice. A hooded warlock stood over a shrieking, disemboweled vampire. The hapless vampire was bound to a large iron structure that resembled an X, his blood and innards running into an iron cauldron below him. A reddish-black vortex of clouds and flame swirled above both beings.

“My God,” Mick muttered. “That’s horrible.”

“And accurate. This depicts the ritual known as the Tide of the Dead. A powerful witch or wizard uses the blood of the undead—usually a vampire—to unlock a portal through which the souls of demons can pass into this world. It’s a ritual that can only be performed during the Blood Moon and by someone with a great deal of power. Not only that, but the vampire blood used in the ritual must be of an ancient line. Like mine.”

“You believe that Aaron is going to sacrifice this boy?” Mick asked as he looked down at the photo of Logan. “You said he’s human.”

“Meaning that he doesn’t drink blood or sleep in a freezer, but he’s my son, Mick. Aaron stole my DNA and used his powers to create my offspring. Lynn Echolls was only the vessel. Logan’s heart beats, he eats food, but his blood is mine, Mick. Aaron knew about the ritual and he knew what he’d need. After I escaped him, he did the only thing he could to make sure he had the blood he’d need. He raised my son as his own so he could control the wellspring of my ancient blood.”

“That’s why you want to go to Neptune, then. You know that Aaron is going to kill this boy.”

“I have no doubt of it,” Josef replied. “But it’s not only that. My people have been watching Aaron carefully, and they’ve reported that he mistreats Logan very badly. Even if Aaron wasn’t a powerful wizard who planned on killing Logan, I’d want to get him away from Neptune.”

Mick set the folder down.

“I understand how hard this must be for you, Josef, discovering that this boy exists only now.”

“It is. But?” He asked with a small smile, lifting his dark eyes to Mick’s large blue-green ones.

“You can’t go there. Neptune is the point of Aaron Echoll’s power. If you set one foot there, he’ll turn you into dust.”

“And if this was your son—your blood—would you hesitate? Do you know what it will mean not just for our kind, but all of mankind, if Aaron is successful? He’s planning on releasing the army of the _Assassini di Nerezza,_ the Killers of Darkness, a soulless, demonic army, an army that has one purpose, Mick—to kill our kind! Aaron will control them completely and use them to expose us and hunt us down until there’s nothing left. It’ll be genocide not only for us, but for humankind, too! Do you believe that Aaron won’t use them to try and take over everything he can?”

Mick looked down at the folder again. The boy in the photos was an innocent; he had no clue about the origins of his birth or about his father’s true nature. He had eleven days to live unless they intervened, and not only was he an innocent young man, he was Josef’s blood.

“All right. Just give me a little time to come up with a plan.”

“We don’t have time for plans.”

“We have eleven days. I want to help you, Josef, and you know I will, but if we’re going to have any kind of chance against Aaron, we have to have some sort of strategy!”

Josef nodded and patted Mick’s shoulder.

“You’re right, of course. Just let me know what you come up with as soon as possible.”

“I’ll start right away.” Mick nodded and took his leave. Josef picked up the folder again and flipped through the photos. In one of them, Logan was walking on the beach with a surfboard under one arm, and walking on either side of him were two blonde boys. One was tall, athletic-looking and had platinum blonde straight hair, and the other was petite, slender, and slight with hair several shades darker than the other boy that was unruly and slightly curly. Despite these differences, their facial features were similar, and Josef guessed them to be brothers. His sharp eyes also noticed body language and positions, and saw very few boundaries between them all. Yes, Logan was quite close to these boys . . . boys for whom Logan would risk his life and perhaps even leave Aaron Echoll’s point of power.

 

_Two Days Later_

Josef hadn’t been human for over four hundred years, but if there was one human ritual that he still enjoyed, it was relaxing on the weekends. Vampire through he was, Josef still had a great many responsibilities, and when Friday evening came around, he set down that load and kicked back just as much as the average human. After pouring himself a bit of scotch, Josef kicked off his Prada loafers and settled back in front of the fireplace with the evening paper. He was halfway through the local section when a knock sounded on his door. Josef got up and padded to the door, sensing it was Mick before he even opened it.

“Hey Mick,” he smiled at his friend after he opened the door. Mick strode into the room, a newspaper in one hand.

“Did you see the paper?” He handed it over to Josef, the headline visible in bold: **California Real Estate Mogul’s Sons Missing,** it read, with the smaller headline, **Foul Play Suspected.**

“I did,” Josef nodded and handed the paper back. “And really, it’s a terrible shame. Are you hungry? I happen to have refreshments.”

“All right,” Mick nodded, and Josef crooked a finger at him as he walked toward the guest room. Mick followed.

“Josef, what—”

“Please, help yourself,” Josef said as he opened the guest room door. “Just don’t drain them.”

Mick stared as he stepped into the room. Two boys, one bigger than the other and both in their teens, sat tied together back to back and stripped to their underwear. Each of them were gagged with duct tape, and the bigger boy with the platinum blond hair began to struggle and plead with muffled words through the tape, his blue eyes frightened. Mick flipped open the newspaper to the story about the missing boys, which featured their photos. The boy staring at him was H. Richard Casablancas Jr., also known as Dick. Mick rounded the bed to look at the other boy, who had unruly dark blond curls and sleepy grey eyes; it was without a doubt Dick’s younger brother, Cassidy Casablancas. Dick’s bare shoulders worked as he fought the ropes, and Josef smiled.

“I wish they all could be California boys, hmmm?”

“Are you crazy?” Mick snapped as he crouched in front of Cassidy and put a hand on his shoulder. Josef slipped his hands into his pockets.

“I’m still in possession of my mental facilities, Mick, thanks. I appreciate the concern.”

“You kidnapped these boys? Richard Casablancas’ sons? One of the most influential men in Neptune, and an ally of Aaron Echolls?”

“You said yourself that it would be suicide for me to go into Neptune, considering Aaron’s powers, and I realized just how right you are. You know the old saying about the mountain and Mohammed?” Josef smiled. “Think of these two as particularly moist bread crumbs.”

“But you kidnapped them!”

“I didn’t, no. I paid to have them brought here for a visit.” Josef stroked Dick’s cheek. “There’s also a few things they deserve to know about their father.” He yanked the tape from Dick’s wrists and worked his right hand free. Dick stared up at Josef as the older man brought the inside of Dick’s wrist to his lips and nuzzled it gently. Mick shook his head.

“Josef, no.”

“It won’t harm him. Consider it a donation to our cause.” Josef’s tongue flicked out to taste Dick’s skin and to dance across the pulse that beat there, quick and strong. Dick exhaled hard through his nose in panicked snorts as he stared at Josef’s mouth. Mick swallowed hard and tried not to stare at the pulse thumping at the base of Cassidy’s slender throat. Josef smiled at him and fastened his lips onto Dick’s wrist, suckling loudly. Dick seemed almost hypnotized now, and his red briefs became distended with a sizable erection. Josef chuckled and pulled off.

“That’s why I stripped you boys. Clothes impede the blood flow.” He drew intricate patterns on Dick’s inner wrist with his tongue and then bared his fangs as his eyes flared silver. Dick’s eyes widened and he cried out through his gag as Josef’s fangs pierced his skin. Mick gulped as the sweet copper smell of blood filled his nose. He watched his friend drink, and Josef smiled at him. Dick moaned as Josef fed off him. Josef then pulled away from Dick’s wrist and lapped the punctures clean before he stroked Dick’s platinum surfer’s hair.

“What a good lad you are,” he said as his vampire features vanished again. Dick gave a hitching moan, and Josef reached down to cup the boy’s erection. Dick arched up into Josef’s hand and came hard, his briefs growing dark and wet with his hot issue. Josef nodded. “There . . . I know, it’s so very arousing, isn’t it?” He watched Dick flush a pretty light rose color as his body reached its peak and then began to wind back down. It was only fair, after all . . . the boy had been a captive, but well behaved, and Josef believed in treating his freshies nicely. Mick glanced away.

“Jo—”

“Before you begin your lecture, let me tell you that heterosexuality—or any ality for that matter—is a human stigma, Mick. It has nothing to do with us . . . we simply do what feels good.” He smiled at Dick. “That did feel good, right?” He asked, and Dick’s eyebrows rose in the affirmative as he nodded a bit.

“I’m going to take off your gag now, but no shouting, all right?”

Dick nodded again, and Josef pulled the tape from the teenager’s mouth.

“You . . . you guys are . . . vampires?” Dick asked, casting them both a disbelieving glance.

“We are,” Josef nodded and freed Dick’s other hand. Now that he’d fed off the boy, it was unlikely that he’d try and escape. Mick removed the tape from Cassidy’s mouth.

“What do you want from us?” Cassidy asked once he could speak, and then cringed away from Mick’s touch when Mick pulled the tape from his wrists.

“Easy, it’s all right. I’m sorry . . . we need your help, both yours and your brother’s.” Mick said as he freed Cassidy’s hands in order to show him they truly meant no harm. “Please, don’t be afraid.”

“I think you rather enjoyed it, actually, and there are those who would do anything to be in your position. And as freshies go, you’re very delicious.” Josef touched Dick’s face. “Home-grown fare is always better than anything exotic.”

Dick stared up at the man who looked so much like his best friend Logan, yet had pierced his wrist with very sharp fangs and drank his blood in one of the most erotic experiences Dick had ever lived through. He wanted to offer more without really understanding why.

“You look like my friend Logan,” he said instead.

“My name is Josef Kostan. This is Mick St. John. Your friend Logan is why you’re here. I’ve left him several obvious clues and planted an informant not far from here. Being the bright young man that he is, it won’t take Logan long to show up here.”

“What do you want with Logan?” Cassidy asked, and Josef freed the boys from the rest of the ropes. He had undoubtedly charmed the older boy with the feeding, which often happened with tactical and sexual people, but the younger one had been hurt recently, and Josef could tell with his years of life experience that it had scarred him. Thanks to his research and informants, Josef knew what that hurt had been, whose fault it was, and where the revenge would lie.

“You friend’s life is in very great danger. In nine days, the man you know as Logan’s father is going to sacrifice him in a satanic ritual that may change life as you know it.”

“Change it how?” Cassidy asked.

“Aaron Echolls is not who you think he is,” Josef said. Cassidy gathered a bit of blanket around himself, and Mick glanced at his friend.

“Let them clean up, Josef. He’s cold and scared,” Mick said as he touched Cassidy’s shoulder.

“He has nothing to fear, at least not from us. If he should be frightened of anyone, it should be Aaron Echolls. But have it your way, Mick . . . they can both have a shower and get dressed if they like, and we’ll wait for Logan to arrive. He should hear the truth about his father too, after all.”

[Part Two](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/309592.html)


	2. Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon,"  2/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon (Chapter Two)  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[**lexalicious70**](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy.

If you missed chapter one, it can be found [Here](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/308881.html/).

Chapter Two

After Dick and Cassidy each took a shower, Mick went out and got some food for them—cheeseburgers and French fries—which he knew was comfort food for the average teenager. Dick and Cassidy proved no different in this capacity as they both ate well, but with varying degrees of appetite. Dick was much more of a hearty eater where his brother grazed, picking certain ingredients off his burger, which Dick added to his. Once Cassidy saw that Mick and Josef weren’t going to harm them, his appetite improved slightly, and he finished his meal. Just as Mick cleared away the cardboard boxes and bags, the doorbell rang. Josef glanced up.

“Mick . . . would you? I don’t want to shock him,” Josef said, and retreated to the bedroom. Mick went to the door and peered through the security peephole to see Logan Echolls standing there in a grey pull-on hoodie, the hood pulled up over his highlighted hair, his hands buried in the kangaroo pouch pocket. Mick opened the door, and the young man who was nearly Josef’s twin glanced up.

“I’m looking for Josef Kostan.”

Mick nodded and opened the door wider.

“Please, come in.”

Logan entered the room, and Dick looked up from the couch. He started to stand, and Logan pulled a handgun from where he had it concealed in his hoodie pocket. He pointed it at Mick, who put his hands in the air.

“Logan!” Dick yelled.

“Don’t move, you son of a bitch!” Logan snapped at Mick as he cut a glance at Dick and Cassidy. “Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, dude, put the gun down, it’s cool!” Dick watched his friend flick the safety off.

“It’s cool?” Logan cocked the gun. “This bastard kidnapped you!”

“Logan please—” Mick began, and Josef stepped into the hallway. Logan caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned, firing the gun even as shock registered in his mind at the stranger’s face. Josef fell to the floor, and Mick shouted his friend’s name. Dick went to Logan and pushed the gun aside.

“Logan, quit it! We’re all right, put it away!”

“Josef! Are you okay?” Mick asked as he helped the other man sit up. Josef nodded, the left shoulder of his red dress shirt blackened with a small patch of blood.

“Lucky for me, the lad is a poor shot.” He got to his feet. “The bullet just grazed me, I’m all right.” He walked over to Logan, who stared at him, unblinking. Josef reached out and took the gun from his hands. Bullets clattered against the floor as he emptied the magazine. “If you’re done playing Dirty Harry, we’ll sit down and talk.” He tossed the gun to Mick, who tucked it into a drawer. Logan glanced at Dick and Beaver, neither of who looked to be a captive.

“What the hell is going on?” He asked sharply, and Josef reached up to push the hood off of Logan’s head. Logan shied away and scowled. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Josef Kostan. I know you have a lot of questions, Logan, and I’d like to answer them. Your friends are safe, as you can see . . . I had them brought here on the gamble that you’d follow.” Josef smiled at the Casablancas brothers. “You have a loyal friend here.”

“Loyal and apparently stupid!” Logan snapped. Josef smiled and stripped off his bloody shirt. A chunk of flesh was missing from his shoulder, but there was only a little bit of blood.

“Not stupid. Just uninformed.” His voice drifted back to them as he went into the bedroom for a clean shirt and then he reappeared, buttoning up a deep plum-colored long-sleeved shirt over his bare torso. “There are things you need to be made aware of, my boy.”

“Like why you look so much like me?”

Josef nodded and sat down. His shoulder wound was already closing up.

“How much do you know about your father?” He asked, and a decidedly suspicious expression crossed Logan’s face.

“As much as your average fan, plus a few scandals that papers never got a hold of. Why?”

“Because your father isn’t who you think he is. In fact, let’s begin there. Aaron Echolls isn’t your father at all. I am.”

“Josef, easy,” Mick said when the color drained from Logan’s face. Josef glanced over at his friend.

“I don’t have time to sugar coat things for him, Mick.”

“You do look just like him, dude,” Dick put in, and Logan scowled.

“You’re not helping!”

“Hey, just saying.” Dick said with a lift of one broad shoulder.

“So. You’re telling me that Aaron Echolls isn’t my father, and that you are. Forgive me if I expect Aston Kutcher to jump out at any moment and tell me I’m being Punkd, but you’re nowhere near my father’s age. In fact, you don’t even look thirty.”

“Oh, I’m a bit older than that, but I thank you for the compliment. And I’m telling you the truth, Logan. Lynn Echolls carried and gave birth to you and both she and Aaron raised you, but Aaron isn’t your father.” Josef held his son’s gaze. “I don’t think he’s even human anymore, given what he’s sacrificed in return for his powers.”

“Powers?” Logan repeated, his voice edged with sarcasm.

“Your father is a wizard, Logan, and a powerful one at that. For years now, he’s used his powers against my kind in order to try and wipe my kind off the face of the earth.”

“Your kind.” Logan glanced around at the roomy penthouse. “I’d guess you meant agents because my father has gone through them like other people go through toothbrushes, but this place is much too tasteful for you to be an agent. They usually favor cheap buildings downtown that smell like onion rings and desperation.”

“I’m not an agent. I’m also over four hundred years old, Logan. When I say our kind,” he nodded to Mick to include him, “I mean vampires.”

Logan blinked at the man sitting across from him and then burst into laughter. Josef watched him.

“It’s true.”

“Look, I realize that this is L.A. and vampires are all the rage right now, but they’re just movies, dude . . . badly-written movies that came from badly-written books. Aren’t you a little old to be a fanboy? Or is this some ploy to get close to my father for some ill-conceived horror movie? As if his career wasn’t scary enough. Let me guess! Some ancient law decrees that you’re doomed to feed upon the blood of the living and promote crappy, hollow movie franchises?”

Josef was out of his chair before the last words left Logan’s mouth. He drove the boy across the room with amazing speed and pinned him to the opposite wall, his eyes glowing red and his fangs bared.

“Does this look like a promotion to you, boy?” He snarled, his hands fisted in Logan’s hoodie. Logan brought his hands up in defense, his eyes wide and filled with fear as he gave an almost involuntary yell of panic. Josef’s fangs lowered and brushed against his neck, sharper than surgical needles.

“No!” He managed, barely able to hear his own voice over the pounding of his pulse in his ears. His bladder threatened to go slack and useless at the sight before him, and he sternly reminded himself that he couldn’t claim he wasn’t afraid if he wet himself. Satisfied at his affect on his rebellious offspring, Josef let him go as his features turned human again.

“What I’m telling you is true, and I’m trying to keep your arrogant little ass from being turned into demon chow, but by all means, if you want to return to Neptune and face what Aaron has in store for you alone . . .” Josef gestured to the door. Logan looked up at the man who all but his mirror image, and then thought about Aaron’s empty eyes, how he never seemed to age or fade, and how Logan was never able to see anything of himself in his father. Josef nodded a little, as if reading his mind, (vampires could read people’s minds, couldn’t they?) and Logan went to sit on the couch with Dick and Beaver. Josef straightened his shirt collar.

“Now then. As I was saying, your father, or at least as you know him, has been hunting California’s vampires for decades. He’s probably much older than you know, Logan.”

“He’s looked the same ever since I can remember . . .except when he got that really tragic mullet when I was about six or seven,” he smiled at Dick, who nodded and made a musing face.

“He’s nowhere near as long-lived as me, but he is much older than people might guess. He sworn to wipe us all out ever since I’ve known of his existence, and now he’s found a way. With you, Logan. Aaron has a great deal of power. In nine days, he’s going to use the power of a special phase of the moon to open a portal between his world and the next.”

“Why would he do that?” Cassidy asked, and Josef glanced over at the boy.

“To raise an army—a demonic army over which he’ll have complete control. He’ll use them to hunt and kill every vampire he can, and run roughshod over humanity while he does it.”

“Okay, but again, where do I fit in?” Logan asked. Josef brought over the thick, leather-bound book that he had showed Mick two days earlier. Dick craned his neck to see the photo.

“Looks like something from one of your freaky video games, Beav,” he said to Cassidy, who moved closer.

“What is that, Mr. Kostan?” He asked.

“It’s a drawing that depicts a ritual called The Tide of the Dead. The unfortunate chap being sacrificed is a vampire, which is what Aaron will need to open that portal . . . a vampire of ancient bloodlines.” He raised his eyes to Logan. “And that, my boy, is where you come in.”

“But Logan’s not a vampire.” Dick shook his head, and his blonde bangs fell into his eyes. “He eats real food, he hangs out in the sun, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t drink blood or turn into a bat when the moon is full.”

“You’re mixing your metaphors, Dick,” Cassidy said. “It’s werewolves who turn when the moon is full, not vampires.”

“Whatever! Shut up!” Dick said as he reached over to slap Cassidy in the back of the head. Cassidy pushed him away.

“Don’t touch me, Dick!”

“Boys, boys,” Josef said mildly, but his expression was enough to make the brothers separate and sit still. And by the way, you’re both wrong. Vampires don’t turn into bats or even keep them around as pets. That’s a myth that began when vampire bats were discovered in parts of Mexico and South and Central America. While Desmondus rotundas, or the vampire bat, does drink blood to survive, it has little to do with our kind. We also don’t fly, change into wolves, or sparkle in the sunlight.” Josef smiled at Logan’s stunned expression. “I don’t live in a cave . . . I’m well aware of the pop culture that surrounds me.”

“Well . . . Dick’s right. I’m not a vampire.”

“No, not in the literal sense. But you’re my blood, Logan. Aaron created you from my issue, my DNA.”

“Dude, how does that even work?” Dick asked, and Josef shook his head.

“You might as well ask why the human body works the way it does . . . about how the organs all work in tandem to allow us to walk and talk and achieve what it does, or to unravel the mysteries of the brain or the central nervous system. It simply . . . is.” Josef said, and then turned to Logan once again. “But to make a long story short, as they say, I was in Neptune nineteen years ago, when Aaron used a binding spell to capture me and a half a dozen of my friends. He experimented on us all to conduct research on building new and better ways to destroy us.” Josef’s voice softened and his dark eyes hazed over with the memory of his friends’ deaths. “He used fire, sunlight, acid, bloodletting . . . even amputation.”

“Jesus,” Logan muttered. He thought about the grooved marks that marred his own back from the prong on his father’s belt and believed that Aaron was capable of great violence.

“When his experiments failed, he killed my friends one by one. He beheaded them and burned the bodies to destroy any evidence of what he’d done. I would have died too, but by then, others came looking for the missing and helped me escape. But I didn’t escape unscathed. Aaron left me with more than one scar.” Josef unbuttoned the cuff of his shirtsleeve and rolled it up to reveal a puckered scar on his inner right elbow.

“So you can be hurt badly enough that you carry scars?” Cassidy asked, and Josef nodded.

“It depends on how deep the wound is and how it was made. This was from a dagger that Aaron had charmed. He took a great deal of my blood to weaken me. I was nearly drained.” He glanced away. “That’s when he took the other thing he stole from me . . . the thing that made you, Logan.”

Cassidy shifted, an uncomfortable expression growing in his eyes. Logan rubbed a hand over his own head as he tried to process Josef’s words.

“You’re saying that my father—Aaron—”

“Harvested me, yes. I was rescued only hours later, and I barely survived. Mick and a few others nursed me back to health, but I never forgot what I or the others endured.”

Logan stared at the man who was telling this impossible story, yet he found himself believing every word. The depths of loss in Josef’s eyes when he spoke, his knowledge of Aaron’s cruelty, were both things Logan couldn’t ignore. He found himself drawn to Josef Kostan, despite the outrageousness of his story.

“So after you escaped, my—I mean, Aaron, he used his magic to make me?”

“It’s hard to say how much magic was involved, but there had to be some. Vampires can have sex, but we can’t impregnate anyone. Aaron took my DNA and created an embryo, with your mother Lynn as the surrogate. You were implanted, Logan, which is why I suppose you look so much like me.”

“You say that Aaron hates vampires, that he hunts them. If that’s true, why would he have raised me as his own?” Logan asked.

“Because of the Blood Moon. Aaron knew it would come eventually, and he knew he’d need fresh and pure ancient blood to perform the ritual in order to open that portal.” Josef tapped the book. “When the portal opens, Aaron will have to make an offering of pure vampire flesh and blood to the general of the _AssAssassini di Nerezza,_ the Killer of Darkness.”

“You mean me,” Logan said softly as he looked at the picture and the hapless, disemboweled man on the cross. A huge, horned, and wart-covered demon was feasting at the cauldron that was collecting the vampire’s blood and innards, and Logan’s stomach twisted.

“It’s the only way Aaron will be able to bind the army into his service,” Mick nodded.

“But I’m here now . . . I’m safe, right?” Logan asked, and Josef sighed.

“It’s nine days until the Blood Moon. We can protect you . . . or, there’s another option.”

“What option?” Logan asked, and Mick frowned at his friend.

“Yes, what option?” He asked with suspicion.

“I can make it so you can protect yourself and return to Neptune to fight at my side.” Josef stood up and tugged Logan to his feet. “Your life in Neptune has been a lie, and if I had known sooner about your existence, I would have come for you, I swear. I know the kind of father Aaron has been to you and the kind of abuse you’ve suffered at his hands. But now, you have the chance at a whole new life and the opportunity to help us save not only my kind but humans as well.”

Mick moved closer.

“What are you suggesting, Josef?”

“That I truly become Logan’s father.” He put his hands on the boy’s lean shoulders. “You could be my son, never be abused again, take revenge on Aaron Echolls for all he’s taken from you, and be young for the rest of your days. No old age, no sickness, and power and strength like you’ve never dreamed of.” One hand rested on Logan’s cheek. “Let me sire you, Logan.”

“No!” Mick said firmly, and Josef glanced sharply at his friend.

“It’s not your decision, Mick. It’s Logan’s.”

“He’s a child!”

“Eighteen is old enough to make an informed decision. That’s why it’s called the age of reason.”

“Wait, are you saying that you’d make Logan a . . .” Dick raised his brows, and Josef nodded.

“A vampire.” He looked Dick over a moment. “In fact, we’re going to need all the help we can get. I’ll open the option to both you and your brother as well.”

“Josef, stop!” Mick said, and Josef turned, baring his fangs in a feral display of anger and dominance.

“If I stop, people die! This isn’t about just you or me or Aaron anymore, it’s about all of us! You’re too young to understand the bond, the strength, that siring someone creates! We’re going to need that strength to defeat Aaron when the Blood Moon rises!”

Mick didn’t show his fangs in return; he knew that Josef was older, much older, and that he understood vampire ritual and culture better than anyone. But Mick also remembered how weak and broken Josef had been after his encounter with Aaron. He hadn’t been able to hunt on his own for weeks, and during the first few days, Mick had to bring Josef fresh blood and spoon-feed it to him as if he were a small child. Josef had overcome his trauma through sheer strength and determination, but the thought of him facing Aaron again with nothing but a trio of lost boys and himself made Mick feel nauseous.

“Nine days, Josef . . . you can’t learn how to be a vampire in nine days!”

“Under my tutelage they can, and with your help, of course.” Josef pulled his fangs in. “And I know they’re young, but young blood is good blood. Besides, Logan’s bloodlines are already powerful. All we need to do is unlock the door.” He then glanced over at Cassidy. “Come here, boy,” he said, and Cassidy obeyed. Josef reached down and smoothed down his unruly hair. Cassidy flinched hard.

“You don’t like being touched, do you?” Josef asked.

“I—uhm, not really, no.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. Few people who have been hurt the way you have been would. You’ve been a victim your whole life, Cassidy, but your encounter with Woody Goodman wasn’t chance, nor was it your fault. I know you blame yourself, but it was no coincidence.”

Cassidy backed off a step.

“How—how do you know—”

“I have informants, and I’m incredibly perceptive. Now, I want to help you make an informed decision about this, and to do that, you need to know the truth about your encounter with Woody Goodman.”

“Encounter? What—” Logan asked, turning to Cassidy, who looked away, miserable. Dick frowned and got to his feet.

“Beav?”

“Woody Goodman molested Cassidy two summers ago when he played for the Neptune little league team,” Josef said without preamble, and Cassidy made a small choking noise at the words. Dick’s blue eyes flared.

“The fuck! Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Beaver?” He asked, and Josef held up a hand.

“A moment, Dick. There’s more to the story than you know.” He looked down at Cassidy. “Your father has enjoyed great success in his business over the past few years, hasn’t he? Profits are up, things are booming?”

“Yeah, he’s made millions over the past few years,” Cassidy said, and Josef nodded.

“Your father is an ally of Aaron Echolls, an ally and, well, shall we say his minion? Aaron’s influence is the reason for your father’s success, a reward for his loyalty in the battle he’s waging. Of course, a display of that loyalty was necessary. After all, Aaron isn’t the kind of man to simply take your word for it.”

“What kind of display?” Cassidy asked in a trembling voice.

“Aaron owed Woody Goodman a favor and knew his tastes. In order to prove his loyalty to Aaron, your father had to fulfill that debt with the one thing Woody most desired . . . an innocent boy.” He looked down at Cassidy, who had gone pale. “Your father was quite insistent that you join little league?”

Cassidy nodded.

“He . . .he said that it would build me up, help me grow.”

“It had little to do with that. Your father handed over your purity to prove his loyalty to Aaron, who in turn rewarded him with fiscal prosperity.”

“Dad would never . . .” Dick murmured, shaking his head.

“I’m afraid it’s true, Dick. And if you need proof, here it is—why would your father become so insistent about your brother joining Woody’s team when he never insisted upon anything, ever, when it came to Cassidy before that? It was the only way to shove his young son into the path of the train, so to speak. He knew he had to repay Aaron’s debt for him, and Cassidy was the perfect sacrificial lamb.”

Cassidy’s mouth worked.

“That’s—he used to call me that. Woody. His lamb. His fleecy lamb.” He abruptly turned grayish green. “I’m going to throw up, Mr. Kostan,” he said in a flat tone, and Mick quickly ushered him to the bathroom. Logan and Dick stared at each other, shocked into silence by the revelations. Finally, Dick swallowed hard.

“Dude . . . I didn’t know, I swear. I swear I didn’t! I might tease him sometimes, but I’d never let that happen!” His voice cracked with emotion. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah, man, I know.” Logan nodded. “He’s your brother. You wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.”

“He’s a weird little dorkwad, but yeah!” Dick nodded. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Maybe because he knows you think he’s a weird little dorkward?” Josef asked casually, and Dick hunched his shoulders. Mick returned a moment later with Cassidy, who still looked pale, his yellow polo shirt dotted with water droplets. A few also clung to his long lashes and he blinked them away. Dick looked over at him.

“Beav. Cassidy,” he said, and the use of his full name by Dick made Cassidy’s eyes focus sharply on his brother. “I didn’t know. I swear!”

“I know. No one did,” Cassidy said hoarsely as he sat down on the couch. Josef watched.

“I know it’s painful to discover the truth, but you can have your revenge if you join me. On Woody, on your father, and on Aaron.” Josef’s gaze lingered on Cassidy. “Being turned is a better option than the suicide you’ve been contemplating lately, my boy. Why destroy yourself when you can destroy those who caused your pain, instead?” Josef went to him and sat down. “You’d make such a beautiful vampire, too . . . you’d have little trouble hunting because no one would ever suspect you. Think about it, Cassidy. No one could ever harm you again. You could easily snap their necks if they tried.” He turned to Dick. “It would make all three of you brothers, and me your sire. You would all be bonded together in a way that’s stronger than any of the ties you’ve created as you’ve clung to each other and weathered the storm that’s been life in Neptune.” Josef got up and walked over to Logan. “All your pain, all your fear . . . it will go away, Logan, and I’ll love you as my own.”

“And my humanity? My immortal soul?”

“Humanity is an ocean of tears, Logan. Think about it. Have you ever truly been happy? And as for your immortal soul . . .” Josef held his arms out as if in example. “You become its embodiment. Free, pure, unfettered by age or decay, and truly timeless. Do you risk a life that’s as brief as the flicker of a candle flame for something that might not even exist on the other side, or do you accept what’s real and standing before you?”

Logan’s dark eyes locked with the mirror image of Josef’s own.

“You said you’d love me. Are vampires even capable of love?”

“Forget your preconceived notions about the unfeeling undead, Logan. Our hearts may not beat, but in reality, emotion has little to do with the heart to begin with. Love is up here.” Josef tapped his head. “It’s in the mind and in the connections we make, both physical and emotional. The bond between a vampire and his sire is a stronger one than any fairytale love story you’ve ever heard.”

Logan stared at Josef a moment, and then Cassidy spoke up behind them.

“I’ll do it.”  
All eyes turned to the younger boy. Josef smiled.

“You’re sure.”

“Yeah. It’s like you said . . . I can’t pretend to be normal anymore, and I can’t live with it, either. If you can promise me revenge against Woody and can deliver, you’ll be more of a father to me than my own ever was.” He looked to his brother. “If you don’t want to do this, I get it. You weren’t the one dad threw to the wolves. He never wanted me. He had his perfect son in you. But that’s not your fault either.”

“Maybe not, but if it’s true what Mr. Kostan says? So not cool.” Dick shook his head. “You might be a little dork, but you’re still my bro. If I had known, I would have kicked Woody Goodman’s ass, and dad’s too!”

“Woody Goodman is soulless monster who rapes and dreams of cannibalizing young boys, and he would have probably killed you if you had confronted him, but that’s a sweet sentiment,” Josef said. “Richard, are you going to be joining your brother?”

Dick glanced at Cassidy.

“We’ve always kind of stuck together . . . it’s why we both ended up with dad after the divorce.” He frowned a little. “If it’s true what you say, then the money for my trust fund comes from my dad letting Woody Goodman hurt Beav.”

“Yes, it does,” Josef nodded. Dick looked away, his expression conflicted. Cassidy watched, his fingers winding around each other. Finally, Dick looked up.

“Fuck it, then. I don’t want the money or anything else from my dad if he did this. I’d rather take your offer,” he said, and Cassidy smiled almost shyly as surprise lit up his eyes. Josef nodded.

“Excellent. And of course, as my son, you’ll want for little until you learn to hunt for yourself and amass your own fortune. You’ll be a child for a time, as all newborn vampires are, but as your sire, I’ll support you as such. You, Cassidy, and Logan will live here with me, and Mick and I will teach you all you’ll need to know.”

“Josef.”

The elder vampire turned to Mick, who looked decidedly uncomfortable.

“Turning someone . . . it’s not always a sure thing. Think of Sarah,” he said, and a shadow crossed Josef’s face at the thought of the girl he loved, in a deep coma ever since he’d tried to turn her fifty years earlier. “It doesn’t always work. What if they get lost somewhere in between, like she did?”

“Leave it to Mick to point out the “side effects may include” aspect of siring.” Josef made finger quotes as he spoke. “And yes, there is a risk. But you boys seem hale and hearty, so I don’t think you’ll have any troubles, but Mick is right, you should know the risks.”

“How does it work, exactly?” Logan asked, and Josef turned to him.

“It’s really not very complicated. I drain your blood to the point of death, and then I feed you mine. This regenerates your body and makes you a vampire. When you awaken, you’ll be hungry, of course, but don’t worry, we can take care of the refreshments.” Josef looked at all three boys. “Make no mistake, you all need to make very sure of your decision.”

“After what you’ve told me about my—about Aaron, it’s the only way I’m going to survive and protect myself. Granted, my surfing and sun worshipping days will be over, but I guess it’s a decent trade for a father who actually gives a shit . . . even if he is vampire.”

“You can still surf at night,” Josef pointed out. “You’ll have night vision and be able to see just as well as you do during the day now. And yes, you’ll have a father and two brothers, and even a built-in uncle.” He motioned to Mick. “He’s still a bit rule bound and is given to periods of brooding worthy of the lead in a prime-time TV drama, but believe me, he grows on you.” Josef smiled at his friend, who gave a patient roll of his eyes. Josef pulled out his cell phone.

“Allow me to order out, and then we can begin.”

 

[Part Three](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/311061.html)


	3. Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon,"  3/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)**lexalicious70**  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy. If you missed the first two chapters, they can be found here:

[Chapter One](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/308881.html)   
[Chapter Two](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/309592.html)

CHAPTER THREE

An hour later, Logan, Dick, and Cassidy sat in Josef’s bedroom, all shirtless and awaiting both Mick and Josef, who were seeing to the comfort of three very pretty “freshies,” women who willingly let vampires feed from them. Logan wondered what else these women would do at Josef’s request.

“Dude,” Dick interrupted his thoughts. “Are you sure about this and everything?”

Logan glanced over at him.

“Hell no I’m not sure. But what do I have to go back to Neptune for, Dick? To be slaughtered by my own father, who isn’t even my father at all? To watch Veronica be with Duncan? To know every day that I wasn’t enough of a good son to keep my mother from jumping off that bridge?” Logan shook his head. “I’ll be a vampire, but at least I won’t have to give a shit about any of that anymore.” Logan smiled. “And we’ll always be young, Dick . . . it’s every oh-niner’s dream.”

The door swung open to admit Mick and Josef. Josef went to the bed and put a hand on Logan’s shoulder.

“Are you ready, son?” He asked, and Logan got to his feet.

“Ready,” he nodded, although the cold, watery feeling in his knees said differently. Josef stroked his head in a gentle manner that Logan had never experienced before from another man.

“Don’t be afraid,” Josef said, and then the hand on his head slipped down to the back of his neck and pulled him forward. Logan gave a small involuntary cry as Josef bared his fangs and his eyes turned silvery-blue. The sharp, eager fangs sliced into Logan’s neck as the hand on the back of his neck tightened slightly, the other wrapped around Logan’s right arm. Logan’s body jerked, his eyes closed, his mouth open in amazement as the sucking, draining sensation overtook all his other senses. He gave a low, harsh sound of pleasure and surprise as his body surged with unexpected eagerness. His cock jerked to life, trembled hard, and then went soft again as Josef drained its blood supply. Darkness crowded the edges of Logan’s vision, and he felt himself being lowered to the bed. Voices swirled around him, fading in and out as if someone was tuning his ears up and down a radio dial.

“Pale—”

“Took too much—”

“Hurry!”

Logan moaned and then something warm, almost hot, was hitting his lips. He opened his mouth and something thick and metal-bitter slid down his throat. It sent such tendrils of burning hunger and desire through him that he reached out almost blindly for its source. He snagged Josef’s wrist and latched onto the cut he’d made, the sweet, hot fluid filling his mouth. He moaned, and then things came into intense focus, filling the world with a million sounds and intense colors. Josef pushed him away as he pulled his wrist back. Logan slumped back, gasping, as his heart stopped and the vampire blood coursed through him instead, driven by ancient forces and its own desire to be further satisfied. He felt his body shiver and twitch as it instinctively tried to hold on to its humanity, but the vampire that was emerging like some dark butterfly from a cocoon of human flesh would not be denied now. A hiss sounded from Logan’s throat and his newborn fangs sprouted, elongated white thorns sheathed behind rose-colored lips. He sat up again and looked up at Josef, who smiled as Logan marveled at the new sights, sounds, and smells around him.

“Slowly, lad. You have an eternity now to adjust to things.” He touched Logan’s shoulder. “How do you feel?”

Logan licked his lips and carefully felt his fledgling fangs with his tongue.

“I’m hungry.”

“That’s not unusual. Most newborns are when they awaken. Sit tight, and in a few moments you can feed with your brothers.” He tugged Dick to his feet. “You’re all so beautiful, really . . . and once I sire you, Dick, you’ll have all the women you can possibly handle, both for pleasure and for prey, and none of them will deny you.” He touched Dick’s face. “Don’t worry.” He pulled Dick to him, as he had with Logan, and his fangs pierced Dick’s summer-dark skin. Dick gasped and his hands clutched at Josef’s arms. Josef tightened his grip on the boy, driving his fangs deep and drinking the delicious fluid they yielded. Dick moaned and Josef felt the boy harden against his thigh; this one was a highly sexual human, which would make him a very eager predator. Josef looked forward to teaching him how to hunt. He stroked the back of Dick’s neck as he drank the boy’s blood to the point of near death, and then he lowered Dick onto the bed. He bit his own wrist again and let the blood that bloomed there splash against Dick’s mouth. Dick hitched and gasped, licking his lips, and Josef lowered his wrist to the boy’s mouth. Dick latched on, drinking deeply, and Josef bared his fangs as Dick sunk his newly-grown fangs into his wrist with a hungry sound.

“Ah! Easy now . . . easy!” Josef said as he finally pulled away. Dick sat up, his ice-white fangs bared, his blue eyes tinged with silver.

“I’m still hungry.”

“Patience,” Josef nodded, and went to Cassidy. The youngest boy looked up at him as Josef took his hand and guided him to his feet.

“I know how much you’ve suffered because of Aaron, your father, and Woody, and how much you hurt. They say that the dead are cold and the undead even colder.” Josef touched Cassidy’s face. “But then, don’t they also say that revenge is a dish best served cold? You’ll have your revenge, Cassidy, I swear, on all of them—if you trust me.”

Cassidy nodded.

Josef pulled the boy gently to him, careful of the pressure he exerted, knowing that this timid child had been badly scarred by the men in Neptune. He could feel the boy trembling in his grasp.

“Easy, easy,” Josef murmured, and sunk his fangs into Cassidy’s soft skin. It had been decades since Josef had drunk from one so young, and Cassidy’s blood was rich and thick, more delicious than Josef had sampled in some time. He drank deeply, gulping it down until he heard Mick speak his name as if from very far away.

“Josef, stop, that’s enough!”

He pulled back then, panting and gasping, and then laid Cassidy down as his pulse fluttered in Josef’s ears like the beating of a tiny bird’s wings. Josef bit his wrist once more, letting his blood fall on the boy’s lips, now a dark cherry red against his very pale face. They didn’t move or open to accept the drops of blood that splashed against them. Josef cursed softly and crouched down.

“Come on . . . “He smeared the blood across Cassidy’s lips, coaxing him to taste it. “No. No, Cassidy, come on!” Josef made a wider gash on his own wrist and let the blood drip down to the ends of his fingers. He opened Cassidy’s mouth and slipped two fingers inside, encouraging him to nurse off them. “Come on, boy! Drink, damn it!” He said firmly, and finally Cassidy’s body jerked before his lips closed around Josef’s fingers and started to suck. Josef pulled away and offered his wrist instead, Cassidy made a soft mewling sound and finally latched on, reaching up with both hands and grabbing Josef’s arm, turning it to drink. Josef closed his eyes in relief and sensation as the bond of the siring formed between them. He allowed Cassidy a few more pulls before he pulled away. He paused a moment, swaying a little, and Mick stepped forward.

“Josef! Are you okay?” He asked as he put a steadying hand on Josef’s shoulder, and Josef nodded.

“Just a bit woozy. I’m all right.” He helped Cassidy sit up. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming back to us, lad,” he said, and Cassidy bared his fangs experimentally. The contrast between the menace of those fangs and the boy’s pretty features and short curls made him an exceedingly lovely vampire, in Josef’s opinion. “How are you feeling?”

“Hungry,” Cassidy said as he licked away a dab of blood from the corner of his mouth, and Josef nodded as he glanced over at Mick.

“Mick, if you’d bring the ladies, please?” He asked, and Mick left the room. He returned after a moment with three women, two blondes and a brunette, (a fitting match to the three newborn vampires, Josef thought,) and Josef paired them off as a fourth woman, a slim, sophisticated woman with dark hair worn in a pageboy, came to him, obviously eager and willing. Josef kissed her and looked over at his sons.

“Lesson one . . . always treat your freshies with kindness, affection, and care. They keep us from having to eat that commercial swill or prey on poodles and Chihuahuas, although the latter, I don’t see much else use for.” He lifted the slim wrist of the dark-haired woman. “Always drink from the wrist. With the neck, there’s more of a danger of hemorrhage, or of taking too much.” He kissed the woman’s inner wrist and then gave it a lick, and she moaned. “Always try and give them pleasure because they offer us so much in return.” He licked her skin with the tip of his tongue and then his eyes flashed a silver-blue as his fangs sank into her flesh. She gasped and moaned, and the boys mimicked his actions with their women. Mick watched them closely.

“Don’t drink too quickly. Make sure that you’re attuned to their pulses and make sure you pull off before they pause or flutter. You should be able to hear them very clearly.” He touched Dick’s shoulder as the young man drank eagerly from a tall blonde who seemed to be swooning in ecstasy. “Remember, we don’t want to harm them.”

Logan pulled away from the petite brunette he’d been feeding from, his fangs bared and stained with blood. The girl moaned and leaned into him, and Logan touched her face, sated and relaxed in a way he’d never experienced before. He felt strong, confident, all of his insecurities vanished. He looked up at Josef, who bared his fangs in a feral smile.

“How do you feel?”  
Logan licked away a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Never better . . . .father.”

 

_One Week Later_  
The Office of the Mayor  
Neptune, California 

Woody Goodman set down his pen and gave a leisurely stretch as he looked around his office in satisfaction. It was nearly eight p.m., time to put away the work day and think of things a bit more indulgent. Woody smiled at the framed photo on his desk, which featured his most recent little league team. They were all so fresh, so untried, and although Woody hadn’t chosen his favorites yet, it was something he looked forward to with a great amount of zeal.

A small noise distracted Woody from the photo, and he turned toward the door. It was half open, and shadows played there from the outer office. Woody frowned.

“Who’s there? Bev?” He called, even though he knew his secretary had gone home hours ago. “Is someone out there?”

Silence was the only reply. Woody tucked his pen away in the desk and rose from his chair.

“I said, who’s there?” He challenged as he went to the door of his office. The outer office was bathed in shadows, and a petite, slender form emerged as if it was simply an extension of them. Woody peered at the figure and then exhaled heavily as he recognized who it belonged to.

“Cassidy! You frightened me!” He smiled even as arousal and excitement flooded him. The slight teenager came toward him, fingers curling around each other like they always had, a sign of the boy’s insecurity. His father, “Big” Dick Casablancas, had worn him down with it just as much as he had built his other son up with pride and ego. Woody couldn’t have been more pleased when Big Dick had handed over his weaker, more vulnerable son to prove his loyalty to Aaron Echolls, and taking the boy was something Woody played over in his mind even to this day. “What are you doing here? Your father said you and Dick have been missing! Are you all right?” He moved closer to the boy, who looked up at him with a frightened expression.

“I escaped.” He trembled and hugged himself. “I didn’t know where else to go . . . if I go home, dad will call the police and I’m afraid that will get Dick killed!” Tears came to his eyes, and Woody saw his opportunity. The boy might be older now, but he had retained all of the qualities that made him so irresistible. He closed the distance between them and drew Cassidy into his arms. His fingers threaded into Cassidy’s curly hair.

“There there now, sport . . . it’s going to be all right! Shhhh, now . . . I’ll take care of you.”

Cassidy allowed himself to be held. He could smell the man’s arousal now, and it filled his vampire’s senses like a noxious cloud.

“That’s why I came here. I had to . . . I knew you’d know what to do!” Cassidy pitched his voice into an insecure warble.

“Of course you had to,” Woody soothed as he stroked a hand down Cassidy’s neck. The boy didn’t resist the touch; whatever he had endured had numbed him. Woody smiled. Once Cassidy had gotten too old for little league, Woody had thought he’d never get a chance with the boy again. Now here he was, trembling in his arms, frightened, vulnerable . . . his little curly-haired lamb, once again ready to be shorn of his innocence. “and it’s going to be all right.” Woody’s hand strayed down Cassidy’s back and then wandered lower. “No one’s going to hurt you.” He turned his lips to Cassidy’s ear, his lips touching the delicate shell. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Cassidy’s upper lip curled, revealing the white flash of his fangs.

“I wish I could say the same.”

Woody gave a garbled yell of surprise and pain as Cassidy plunged a hand into his hair, a hand that possessed a great deal more strength than a boy Cassidy’s age and size should have, and it jerked his head to one side. Woody shrieked and tried to pull away, but something sharp and fierce plunged into his throat, furrowed deep, and then tore downward. Woody gagged and his hands flapped at Cassidy’s shoulders as he felt blood gout from his neck in a thick, rapid river. He clapped a hand to it, blood seeping through his fingers and staining his collar as Cassidy stepped away to watch. Woody stared at him in shock.

“You’ll be dead in a few minutes,” Cassidy said. “I could have drained you, but you’re poison. It also would have given you pleasure. Besides, I kind of believe in an eye for an eye these days. What you did to me made me bleed inside every day afterwards. And I was just a kid. We all were.”

Cassidy’s name was a thin bubble of blood on Woody’s lips that broke and left a fine spray of red droplets across the teenager’s cheek like a tribal marking. Cassidy bared his fangs, and Woody’s dying eyes widened at the sight.

“I found a way to heal. You won’t.”

With his hand still in Woody’s hair, Cassidy gave a quick, hard turn of his wrist and elbow, snapping the mayor’s neck even as he bled out. Cassidy watched as the life drained from both his eyes and his body before he let go of Woody with the air of a man dropping a used tissue. His body hit the ground in a heavy sprawl.

“He took the bait.”

Josef’s voice spoke from behind Cassidy, who nodded.

“I knew he would. It’s how things start with him. A hug.” Cassidy pulled his fangs in. “The first time it happened, I was in the locker room after little league, and I was crying because my dad didn’t show up at the game. Woody came over, sat down next to me . . . told me it was going to be okay. And then he hugged me.” The corner of Cassidy’s mouth twitched. “It happened so fast. And I thought my dad would kill me if he found out. I think Woody knew I thought it, too.”

Josef came forward with a clean handkerchief that he kept tucked into his jacket pocket.

“You bested him. I’m proud of you.” He wiped Woody’s blood from Cassidy’s smooth cheek. “For doing it so well and for not drinking from him. And I know it’s not a baseball game, but your sire was here for your most important kill. I hope that helps.”

“It does, actually.” Cassidy nodded and then looked down at Woody’s body. “And I’d rather drink from a diseased rat. Do we bury him?”

“No. He can be our calling card to Aaron. Let him sweat awhile knowing there are vampires back on his turf.” Josef smiled and stretched his hands out in front of him. “Besides, I just had a really excellent manicure.” He put a hand on Cassidy’s shoulder. “Your brothers are waiting outside. Shall we?”

Cassidy nodded and didn’t look back at the body as he followed Josef outside. In the deep shadows by the corner of the building, Dick and Logan were feeding off a young Hispanic woman dressed in a tube top and purple spandex pants. Each of them had an arm and was drinking from the wrist. The girl, in her late teens with differently-colored extensions in her frizzy hair, wobbled on her spiked heels as Dick slipped an arm around her waist. He and Logan traded feral smiles as they shared her. Cassidy watched, his nostrils flaring with the scent of blood.

“I’m hungry, too.”

“Mick is bringing down some freshies for us. Boys!” Josef scolded as he went over to his sons, and Dick let the swooning woman drop in a heap at his feet in a euphoric sprawl.

“What?” He pulled his fangs in and then hunched his shoulders a bit at Josef’s pointed glare. “We didn’t kill her! I even gave her fifty bucks!” Dick nodded to the money clenched in her right fist. Josef touched a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes briefly.

“There’s a reason we drink from the same willing freshies all the time, Richard! They keep their blood pure for us, they take excellent care of themselves!” Josef looked down at the prostitute. “Tainted blood will weaken you, and we need to be at our greatest strength right now in order to face Aaron!”

Dick rounded his shoulders and lowered his eyes.

“I was hungry.”

“So was I,” Logan put in, and Josef nodded.

“I understand that it’s very hard to control your hunger, but you have to be patient. We’ll be meeting Mick back at where we’re staying, and I told him to order in. There will be girls for us all when we return. But until then, no more hookers, transients, or wayward postal carriers! Am I clear?”

All three boys nodded. The girl finally managed to get her high heels up under herself before she staggered off. Dick turned to his brother.

“So dude, you snuff the bastard?”

“Yeah, he’s done. He’s never going to touch another kid.”

“Good deal.” Logan nodded. “So what’s next?”

“The Blood Moon is in two days. Without a vampire of ancient lineage to work his spell, Aaron will find something else to try and offer the _Assassini di Nerezza”_ Josef replied.

“So he’ll still try and perform the spell? What if he can’t control the army? Won’t they kill him for calling them up without having the offering?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, if Aaron raises the army without having much to offer, they’ll just off him! Shouldn’t we just let him flush his own toilet?” Dick asked as he flicked his bangs from his eyes.

“As colorful a euphemism as that is, no,” Josef replied as they headed for Josef’s car, a glossy black Jaguar with tinted windows. “Aaron is very powerful, and he may be able to placate the general. But even if he can’t, they’ll enslave him and every other human in their lust to destroy us. Our blood, our flesh, makes them powerful.”

“So if we don’t stop Aaron from performing the ritual, either way, we’re all potential demon chow.” Dick slipped into the backseat of the Jag with Cassidy after they reached the car and Josef unlocked the door.

“Under Aaron’s control or not, once raised, the army will stop at nothing. They’ll destroy everything and everyone until the last of us is gone.” Josef started the car. “Which means we have to destroy Aaron before he can call up his merry band. “

 

[Part Four](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/311569.html)


	4. Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon,"  4/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)**lexalicious70**  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy. The links to previous chapters are below.

[Chapter One](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/308881.html)   
[Chapter Two](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/309592.html)   
[Chapter Three](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/311061.html)

CHAPTER FOUR

_The Next Morning  
Aaron Echoll’s Residence_

Aaron Echolls lowered the newspaper he held in his hands, the newsprint wrinkling at the edges as his knuckles turned white.

“Vampires,” he growled in a tone that one might reserve for rats or maggots. “There are vampires in my city, B.D.”

“Big” Dick Casablancas, real estate mogul and Aaron’s lackey, poured Aaron a drink and the wet bar and brought it to his master.

“Can we be sure it was a vampire that killed Woody? He probably had a lot of enemies.”

Aaron threw the paper down. The headline read, “Woody Goodman Murdered: Mayor’s Body Found At City Hall.”

“The mayor’s throat was torn open, B.D., and there was very little that was random about it. My inside source told me that there were puncture wounds marks above the wound, as if the tearing began there! And his neck was broken. If a vampire wants to kill you without drinking your blood, he’ll either rip open your throat or break your neck. This was a brutal killing. The neck was broken after he bled out, or nearly so. It was a calculated murder.”

“What vampire would be foolish enough to come here? And why would it go after Woody?”

Aaron rose from his chair and went to the huge bay window that overlooked his wife’s gardens. It was the end of May, and roses and petunias rioted under the sun.

“My son is still missing, B.D. We know there’s a good chance that he went looking for your boys.” He sipped his drink. “I think I know now why the location spell that I used on them failed.”

“Do you think they’re dead?” Dick asked. The prospect saddened him, especially in Dick’s case. Death for Cassidy, though, his inexplicably weak and fragile boy, would be a mercy.

“Not dead. Undead.” He turned from the window. I think they’ve been changed . . . reborn as vampires. The location spell would have worked even if they had been dead. But most vampires have natural abilities to shield themselves from spells that might reveal or locate them.” He gave a humorless smile that was tinged with anger. “That’s what makes the bastards so hard to hunt down!”

“You think Dick Jr. and Cassidy have been turned?” Big Dick made a disgusted face. Aaron nodded.

“I think they were taken as bait to lure my son away,” Aaron’s eyes darkened. “By Josef Kostan.”

“But you said he was dead! That you’d destroyed him.”

“I thought I had!” Aaron gave an empty laugh. “It might be that those who came for him were able to keep him alive.”

“How can you be sure?” Big Dick asked, and Aaron scowled at him.

“Because, you simpleton, there are less than a dozen vampires of pure lineage left in the world, and of them, only a few are old enough to understand the power of the Blood Moon! Josef Kostan is one of them! If he somehow became aware of Logan’s existence, he might have taken your sons to lure him away!” Aaron snarled and hurled his glass against the wall, where it exploded in a spray of crystal and scotch. “If he’s turned Logan, he’s useless to me in the spell that will raise my army! I needed him warm and breathing, a special gift for the Assassini! One born of vampire blood, but not a vampire!”

“So the spell can’t be cast,” Big Dick sighed. “You won’t be able to raise the army to help us in our cause.” He ran a hand through his well-groomed hair. “Unless there’s a way to be sure that the boys have been turned?”

Aaron scowled again and turned to look back out the window. Lynn’s flowers, freshly watered by the ground’s sprinkler system, dried in the sun, their delicate petals beaded with water. The flowers made little difference to Aaron, but Logan had always made sure they were well cared for since Lynn’s suicide. Since they had never found a body, Aaron knew that Logan still held out hope that she’d simply run away. Aaron smiled suddenly as he traced the rounded and circular bloom of a red zinnia.

“Yes,” he murmured. “Of course!” He smiled, the bloom of it like the blossom of a poisonous plant that dripped with venom.

“What is it?” Big Dick asked, and Aaron turned.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, B.D. I think that even though I’ve lost my son to his father, we might have something to offer the _Assassini_ after all. Something very special.”

 

In an expensive hotel room in midtown Los Angeles, Dick and Logan shared a tall, blonde freshie on the king-sized bed as the sun went down outside. The blonde was naked and moaning as Dick divided his time between her large breasts and her left wrist, which he drank from at leisure. Logan sipped from her other wrist and found himself much more interested in stroking Dick’s hair than he was in touching the girl. Back in Neptune, he and Dick had indulged in a few drunken or pot-induced tumbles when Dick was between bootie buddies or Logan got wasted after one of his father’s beatings and needed the comfort, but this was different. Feeding with Dick formed an irresistible bond that made his body hum with energy. He felt no guilt, no shame, as he stroked Dick’s hair, and Dick seemed to feel the same lack of inhibition as he leaned into Logan’s touch and grinned at him around the girl’s wrist. When she finally swooned, Logan nudged her aside and crawled over to Dick. Dick raised his head to meet Logan’s mouth, and their tongues touched as Logan’s hand slid down to cup Dick’s erection. Dick growled out a lust-filled noise and he bit Logan’s lower lip as Logan unzipped Dick’s fly and slipped his hand inside.

“Fuck!” Dick growled as he arched up into Logan’s hand, and Logan laughed as he wrapped his hand around Dick’s erection and they tumbled back on the bed together. Logan’s fangs flashed and he bit Dick’s neck as the growling blonde curled a fist into Logan’s short hair and tugged on it.

“Weird, right?” Dick panted in Logan’s ear as he yanked Logan’s fly down and freed his friend’s erection.

“Not as weird as it used to be, apparently,” Logan replied as he pumped Dick’s cock. Dick matched his rhythm as Logan nipped his neck again.

“Must be that zero-weirdness factor that Josef told us about,” Dick groaned as he yanked Logan’s shirt off and went for his nipples. He nipped one hard, and Logan gave a low, shuddering growl as he came hard over Dick’s pumping hand. Dick raised his hand to lick his fingers clean as Logan stroked him, and a slick thumb passed over the head of Dick’s cock had him spilling hard over Logan’s hand. Finally, both boys slumped back, grinning at each other in a way that their human inhibitions had never allowed. Previously, when one of their encounters took place, they never talked about it out of some mutual understanding of a million possible consequences. Now, Logan found himself not giving a damn about any of them. His connection to Dick, the sire-bond, was all that mattered.

Finally, Dick rose and stretched, his human features returning. The blonde freshie slept deeply, not stirring at all as Dick climbed over her. After a quick glance to make sure she was still breathing, Logan followed.

“Dude, let’s go out. We can hit Club Thin or something,” Dick said.

“Josef told us to stay put, man.”

“But it’s moonrise,” Dick said as he glanced out the window. “I want to go out.”

Logan went into the bathroom, and the water began to run.

“It’s dangerous, Dick. Josef said that we’re in Aaron’s point of power and that we have to keep out of sight until it’s the right time to face him.” He came out of the bathroom, drops of water clinging to his chest and flat belly. He reached for his boxers and jeans as Dick skimmed off his own jeans and underwear to flop down naked on the other bed, the T.V. remote in one hand.

“What’s the point of being all creature of the night if we have to stay cooped up in here?” Dick flipped through the channels as he propped himself up on one elbow. Logan tugged on his tee shirt as he admired the taut slope of Dick’s ass.

“Maybe we can get a deck of cards at the front desk, play some poker or something. Get Beaver in on it if we can pry him away from the grown-ups,” he smirked. Josef and Mick had insisted that Cassidy stay with them in order to get him used to being around them without being uneasy or nervous. Logan had to admit that thanks to his own experiences with Aaron, he wasn’t exactly comfortable around adult males himself.

“Guess it’s cool that he gets to be daddy’s boy for once,” Dick replied, and then he raised his head, his eyes widening as he paused at a local news channel on the T.V. “Logan. Uhm . . . dude?”

Logan turned to his friend, who was staring at the screen in disbelief at Lynn Echolls, Logan’s mother, who was talking to reporters, the mute button robbing her of her voice. Logan moved to the bed and snatched the remote from Dick’s hand. He hit the volume button a few times, his eyes wide.

“—Needed to get away from Neptune, and maybe not everyone understands that,” Lynn was saying, “but since I’ve learned of my son’s disappearance, I had to come forward and let him know that I was alive. I want him to know that if he ran away for the same reasons that I did that it’s all right. I’m going to go home, and so can he.” She looked directly into the camera. “Come home, Logan baby. Please.”

“Mom,” Logan murmured, staring back at her image. “She’s alive . . . I told them, I knew it. She’s alive!” Logan grabbed his coat and pulled it on as Dick sat up.

“Logan wait, you said—”

“Man, I know, but Aaron is dangerous, and I can’t take the risk of him hurting her because of me!” Logan went to the door as Dick fumbled on his boxers.

“Dude wait, you need to tell Mick and Josef about this! You can’t go alone!”

“My mom needs me, Dick. I can’t let Aaron hurt her!” Logan went to the door and ran down the hall as Dick hesitated in the doorway. Josef came out of the room across the hall a few moments later and eyed his blooded son with an amused smile.

“Is it laundry time, or are you and Logan playing strip poker with your freshie?”

“Logan just took off,” Dick replied, a pang of guilt pricking at him for narcing on his best pal, but if he was in trouble . . . “he saw his mom on T.V., asking for him to come home if he could.” Dick ran a hand through his hair. “Logan took it real hard when she died or vanished or whatever,” he said, and Josef cursed as he sped down the hall.

“I tried to stop him!” Dick called after him, and then he ducked back into the room to get dressed, frowning down at himself. “It’s just that he ran out while I was in my undies.”

 

Logan dug his keys from his coat pocket as he jogged for his Xterra. Josef had insisted the bright yellow SUV be painted a more subtle color if Logan was to drive it back to Neptune, and now the freshly-detailed vehicle brooded a deep onyx in the light from the hotel. Logan hit the keyless entry button and the car’s taillights flashed in response. He put a hand on the door handle and then Josef had a strong hand on his shoulder and was turning him around.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m going back to my father’s house! To Aaron’s,” Logan corrected himself. “My mother is alive, Josef. I have to go to her. Aaron might try and hurt her!”

“I know that you want your mother to be alive, Logan, and I understand her death hurt you, but—”

“You don’t get it! I saw her! She was on the news, asking me to come home! She’s not dead, Josef!”

“But you are,” Josef reminded him. “You’re a vampire, you’re instrumental in a plan that would help my greatest enemy destroy our world, and you’re under my protection! I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go.”

Logan snarled and pushed Josef hard.

“I’m going!”

Josef’s fangs bared in anger and he grabbed Logan by the front of his shirt, pinning him up against the SUV.

“You foolish twerp!” He said in a low voice as leaned in to look Logan in the eye. “Your former father is a wizard! Do you honestly think that he couldn’t conjure up a spell to—”

“Logan?” A voice spoke from the alley across from them, and Josef turned to see a beautiful but fast-fading woman standing there in an expensive pantsuit and a fur coat, her full lips stretching into a smile. Logan slipped free from Josef’s grip, a cry breaking from his throat.

“Mom!”

“Logan, no!” Josef grabbed for him, took four steps forward and then found himself staggering backwards, helpless and paralyzed from an arrow that had pierced his chest. He fell heavily onto his back, watching in extreme dismay as Lynn Echolls waited until her son was no more than four paces away before she drew a medium-sized crossbow from her jacket and shot him in the heart. Logan stared at her in disbelief as his lips formed her name before he crashed to the ground. Big Dick stepped out of the shadows of the blind alley, the crossbow he’d used on Josef in one hand. Lynn’s form shimmered with a writhing yellow light before it elongated and shifted back into its true form, that of Aaron Echolls. He smirked and lowered the bow.

“Surprise!” He laughed, and Big Dick watched Josef make a series of gasping moans as he tried to break free of his paralysis. Logan made quieter noises that were no less desperate.

“They’re not dead.”

“Staking a vampire isn’t as foolproof or fatal as people are led to believe in vampire lore. It usually only causes paralysis. Beheading them or burning them alive is the best way to kill them.” He leaned down and took the keys from Logan’s hand. ‘Put them in the back. We’ll take the SUV so it looks like Logan left on his own.” He leaned over his son’s frightened face with a mock-patient expression. “Logan, you’ve been a very naughty boy. I’m afraid you’re going to have to be severely punished.” A slow smile spread over his face. “And by the way, rest assured that your mother is indeed dead. That spell I used to will her into jumping off that bridge was a good one. I’m sorry she had to go, son, but with the Blood Moon coming, I couldn’t let her interfere.” He stroked Logan’s cheek. “Don’t worry, though. You might see her soon again anyway.”

 

“You saw Lynn Echolls on the news? You’re sure?” Cassidy asked as he, his brother, and Mick headed down the hotel hallway. After neither Josef nor Logan had returned to the room after twenty minutes, Dick had gone to Mick’s room to tell the other man what he’d seen.

“Yes, I’m sure! Dude, how many people look like Logan’s mom? He freaked out when he saw her on the news! He took off, and I saw Josef follow him about a minute later!”

Mick pushed open the alley access door and stepped out into the night. His car was still there, but the Xterra was gone.

“Looks like they took off together,” Dick said. “Maybe Josef went with Logan to see his mom so she wouldn’t have to go alone.”

“Josef wouldn’t have let him go at all,” Mick replied. “This is Aaron’s town and Josef knows the dangers.” Mick stalked around the alley and then crouched down as his nostrils flared and his eyes closed. Dick watched.

“What? Do you smell something?”

Mick nodded.

“Blood. But not human. You should be able to smell it too, with your senses. Don’t inhale. Vampires don’t breathe, anyway. Reach out through the bond you have with both Logan and Josef.”

Cassidy closed his eyes and opened the new senses he’d been given through his siring. He reached out through the sire bond, and then the scent of Logan and Josef’s blood filled his senses, more noticeable than human blood, less sweet, like ancient, superheated iron.

“I smell it, Mick,” he said as he leaned down and peered at the ground. The concrete of the alley was a Rorschach pattern of stains—coffee grounds, oil, garbage, animal offal, and grease, but sprinkled among those were tiny drops of blood that stopped abruptly where the Xterra had been parked. More of it dotted the other end of the alley. Mick closed his eyes again and his head turned slightly to one side.

“Josef’s blood is here,” he said, glancing back to the partial tire track the SUV had left in a patch of mud at the mouth of the alley.

“Guys! I smell Logan!” Dick called from the other end of the alley. “And something else, too! I don’t know what it is.”

Mick rose and went to where Dick stood, his expression screwed up with distaste.

“Dude. What is that? It’s like . . . old meat and landfill and feet or something!”

Mick sniffed again and paced in a circle.

“It’s dark magic. Very old, very strong.” He turned to look at the boys. “I think Aaron ambushed Logan and Josef and took them both. From the position of the bloodstains, something lured Logan to the opposite end of the alley, away from Josef. Something or someone dropped Josef where he stood, over there, but Logan was taken down here.”

“Dark magic.” Cassidy frowned as that smell came to him, smelling like musty, mummified cabbage. “And it was used to draw Logan to this spot? Mick . . . maybe Logan seeing his mom on T.V. was a trick to lure him outside.”

“But we both saw her, Beav!” Dick said, and Mick nodded.

“Aaron’s magic is very powerful. It could have been a spell, especially if Logan’s mother said exactly what he wanted to hear.”

“She told him to come home,” Dick said. “Damn, that’s low, making him think she’s alive? Playing him with her like that?”

“And now he has them both, the night before the Blood Moon.” Mick looked over at his two charges, who suddenly looked very young as they looked to him for answers.

 

[Part Five](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/312723.html)


	5. Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon,"  5/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)**lexalicious70**  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy.

Previous Chapters:

[Chapter One](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/308881.html)   
[Chapter Two](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/309592.html)   
[Chapter Three](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/311061.html)   
[Chapter Four](http://www.livejournal.com/editjournal.bml?journal=lexalicious70&itemid=311569)

CHAPTER FIVE

The morning of the Blood Moon dawned clear and sunny, as did most days in Neptune, but neither Josef nor Logan were witnesses to it. Each of them came to slowly, chained to a thick stone wall in Aaron’s underground lab. Josef was the first to stir, and his mind registered that he was very cold and very naked before he even opened his eyes. When he finally forced them open, he glanced down to see that he had indeed been stripped. The chains that held his hands over his head hummed with magical energy, and the arrow wound in his chest throbbed with a constant ache. He glanced around the cavernous lab, the same one he’d been held captive in twenty years earlier. Memories of his friends’ deaths, as well as his own suffering, rose unbidden to his mind, and he yanked at the chains. The magic within them held strong, making the wound on his chest pulse even more and finally Josef slumped back, his eyes closed in frustration and pain.

“Logan,” he called to his son. “Logan, wake up!”

Logan stirred at Josef’s call, and he groaned as his eyes fluttered open.

“Cold,” he muttered as his lean form shifted on the bare stone floor. Finally, his eyes opened all the way and he turned his head to look at Josef, who sat only a few feet away. He was also nude, and the wound on his chest oozed blood. “Where are we?”

“Aaron Echoll’s lab. Underground,” Josef replied, worried, as he watched Logan’s wound bleed. He was young, and his healing powers were still growing. That, coupled with the fact that he’d been shot at such close range, made the boy slower to heal.

Logan closed his eyes and leaned his against the wall as he remembered his mother’s image twisting into that of Aaron’s in the alley.

“It was a fucking trick. God, I’m so stupid.” Logan said, his voice breaking. Josef shook his head.

“Aaron used the only weapon he had, Logan. It’s all right. I know how much you wanted to believe your mother was alive.”

“He killed her. The bastard!” Logan opened his eyes and his jaw tightened. “He got into her mind and made her jump off that bridge!”

“I’m sorry, Logan. For everything.” Josef said, and Logan shook his head.

“It’s not your fault.” He glanced around the lab. “He took us captive instead of killing us.”

“Tonight is the Blood Moon. He needs us all out of the way, and if Mick and the boys figure out that we’ve been taken, that gives Aaron leverage. Of course, what he doesn’t know is that Mick is a lot more stubborn than he is worried about his own skin.” Josef smiled as he said it and then he sighed. “I thought I could protect you if I sired you, Logan. I suppose so far that I’ve made a pretty poor showing, haven’t I?”

“It was my choice. I asked you to turn me, even after you explained the risks. You took the chance of blowing your cover, and Mick’s too, by trying to get me away from Aaron.” Logan smiled. “It’s more than he would have ever done for me.”

“That’s because you’ve always been spoiled, ungrateful, and demanding.” Aaron came toward them as a door boomed shut behind him in the distance. “But then, had both of you lived, Josef would have discovered that, eventually.” He walked toward his captives, wearing a long red robe with black trim. His chiseled features reflected a cold humor that glittered in his dark eyes like black ice. “Try as you might to gain back your son, the darkness that I instilled in him would have eventually caused him to turn on you, Josef.”

“Your darkness is your own,” Josef said as he met the wizard’s eyes. “No one knows that better than me.”

Aaron gave a small chuckle and then slammed the end of his heavy oak staff into Josef’s knee, shattering the kneecap. Josef gave a strangled groan of pain through clenched teeth, but his eyes never left Aaron’s face as they burned fiercely in a promise of payback. Logan cringed, and Aaron laughed as he nodded to him.

“You see there? He’s a coward, Josef! But then, I suppose that’s not his fault. He’s your son, after all, isn’t he?” I remember what you were like the last time you were my guest. You screamed and protested, and then, at the end, when I took your seed to make this boy . . .” Aaron crouched down and nodded at Logan before he clamped a big, rough hand around Josef’s testes, causing the vampire to hiss in pain and rage. “ . . . .you wept like a woman!”

“I know that you’re going to raise the Assassini,” Josef said tightly. “But you have more than what you need in me. Let the boy go!”

“Logan’s death is on your hands, vampire.” Aaron let go of Josef and got to his feet. “I would have let him come home if you hadn’t made him a monster. But since I can’t change him back, I don’t have any other choice but to put him out of his misery.”

“You raised him as a fatted calf!” Josef shouted, straining against his bonds as he saw fear and doubt grow in Logan’s eyes. “To offer to the Assassini! Tell him the truth, Aaron, or is the truth too much for a lying, pathetic weasel like you?”

Aaron’s staff cracked across Josef’s head almost before he finished speaking, and the vampire went limp in his shackles. Aaron looked over at the boy he’d raised as his own.

“And you. You let yourself be turned into this abomination!”

“You were going to kill me!” Logan shouted. “Josef told me everything!”

“And sadly, for you, I can’t stray from those plans now. See . . . your daddy dearest there might be ancient and wise, but what he doesn’t know is that siring you hasn’t saved you. Granted, you’re not as fresh as you were when your heart was beating, but you did bring me one thing that makes you a fitting sacrifice.” Aaron’s eyes glittered. “Your sire.” He glanced over at Josef. “That’s why I didn’t kill him back in the alley. He thought that if he turned you, I couldn’t offer you up. He was only half right, though. By yourself, you have very little power or meaning. But the two of you together? That’s something else. When he turned you, he created an energy, a bond, that I doubt I could find anywhere else. There’s nothing more powerful than a circle, Logan, and that’s exactly what he created when he sired you. Of course, being a blood-sucking animal, he couldn’t have known that. He thought that siring would save you when all it’s really done has made you an even tastier morsel for my army.”

“Please don’t do this,” Logan said softly, and Aaron ran a rough hand through his hair.

“Don’t worry. It’ll only hurt for a little bit, and if you’re brave, I’ll try and remember to behead you before the Assassini finish eating you alive.” He turned to leave and then turned back with a smile on his face.

“Oh! And if you’re counting on that vampire P.I. and Big Dick’s boys to come to the rescue, it’s not going to happen. They’ll all be dead within the hour. But think of it this way, son . . . after all these years, you’re finally going to be worth something tonight.” The smile widened. “You’ll actually be necessary.”

Aaron left the room a moment later, plunging it into darkness, leaving Logan to huddle up against the stone wall and pray that his friends escaped town before nightfall.

 

“I can’t believe this! Logan and Josef are God knows where with Logan’s psychotic wizard dad, and we can’t even go after them!” Dick looked out the window as daylight blazed down on Neptune. Mick sat nearby, flipping through Josef’s book of vampire lore and history.

“It’s why Aaron has always chosen to live here. If you’re an enemy of vampires, what better place to live where the sun shines all the time?”

“But we can’t just sit here!” Cassidy said as he watched Dick pace near the window, although he stayed clear of the bright patches of light that spread long fingers across the carpet.

“Yes we can. Aaron can’t do anything until moonrise, so we know that Logan and Josef are safe until at least then.” Mick took a decanter of blood he’d brought along with him from the mini-fridge and poured them each a glass. Dick wrinkled his nose.

“Commerical stuff? And cold?”

“It’s better than nothing, and freshies need at least seventy-two hours before they can be fed from again. Come on, drink up. You need your strength.”

Cassidy drained half of his glass and grimaced at the temperature of its contents.

“Mick, how are the three of us going to take on Aaron if he’s got all of the power? I mean, he’ll kill Logan and Josef if we try and interfere with the ritual!”

“I’m working on it, pal,” Mick replied as he read over the book. “We have one thing going for us and that’s the spell itself. Aaron isn’t going to be able to fight us once it’s begun. A wizard’s magic needs will and concentration, and he’ll need a lot of it to conjure up the Assassini.”

“So our best bet is to break his concentration and make the spell go wonky.” Dick nodded.

“Which is also dangerous,” Mick replied. “If you speak a conjuring spell wrong, you might call up something that’s twice as bad as you intended, or even worse, the thing that you wanted, only it’s really insulted that you didn’t bother to chant the incantation correctly. Demons and spirits demand respect, and they can be all the more dangerous if they don’t get it.”

“So either we battle Aaron before the ritual thing, or we battle him and whatever pissed off demon pops up after we screw up the spell,” Dick sighed and drained his glass. “Not sure which of those has the lesser chance of us getting our guts ripped out.”

“If you have other ideas, now’s the time.” Mick closed the book. “I’m a vampire, not a wizard, so I don’t have any chance of casting any kind of counter-spell.”

“I still don’t understand why Aaron took them both. Josef said Logan would be useless to the Assassini if he was a vampire.”

“Aaron must know something we don’t,” Mick sighed as he opened the book again. “And if it’s something Josef didn’t know, he can’t be held responsible. He did what he could to protect Logan.”

Cassidy nodded.

“I know. It wasn’t an accusation, Mick.”

“Sorry. I’m just frustrated and worried. Aaron has a lot of power, and the last time he captured Josef, Josef barely survived it.”

Dick raised his head suddenly, his nostrils flaring.

“Hey, do you guys smell that?”

Mick looked up even as the acrid sting of smoke reached his senses. He got to his feet as it began to filter in under the door.

“Fire.” He could feel the heat building on the other side of the door and motioned the boys back. “We’re not getting out that way.”

Dick went to the window and pried it open, wincing as sunlight hit his arms.

“Mick, we’re five stories up!”

“This isn’t an accident,” Mick said as he stuffed what he could into a duffel bag and threw it to Dick. “They know we’re here.”

“What are we going to do? They’ve got us trapped!” As recently sired as he was, as any vampire, Cassidy had been quickly taught to fear fire.

“Not as much as they think.” Mick went to the window and looked down. “This way.”

“It’s like sixty feet!” Dick protested.

“Just hang onto that bag!” Mick said as he kicked out the window screen. It fluttered to the ground below like a wounded bat. “Cassidy, get up on my back.”

Cassidy nodded and went over to Mick, who helped him climb up. “Hang on tight, you hear me?” He grabbed Dick’s wrist as he climbed up onto the sill. “Don’t think! Just let your instincts guide you!”

“Mick, it’s too far!” Dick shouted. Behind them, the door began to warp, the silver doorknob turning a deep cherry color with heat.

“Trust me!” Mick yelled, and jumped out the window, tugging Dick after him. Dick yelled as they fell, and Mick tried to control his landing the best he could, even as Cassidy’s arms tightened around his neck. They hit the pavement feet first and Dick stumbled, yanking Mick to his knees and popping a tendon in his wrist. He growled in pain and watched Dick go sprawling before rolling to his feet, his blue eyes wide in disbelief.

“How did we do that?” He asked, and Mick had Cassidy climb down before he gave the boy a gentle push toward the alley.

“I’ll explain later, when the sun isn’t frying us from the inside out! Go, head for the car!”

Dick covered his head with his arms as he ran for the alley. When he reached the entrance where Mick’s convertible was parked, Cassidy caught up with him, and both boys backed up a few steps as their father came around the car with a long, slim weapon that Dick recognized as a flame thrower. His father had always been big on weapons, and once, he had shown Dick at a weapons range how much damage the thing could do.

“Hello boys!” Big Dick said in a conversational tone, as if he wasn’t holding a weapon of mass destruction.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Dick asked, and his father smiled.

“Aaron told me that you both had turned vampire. I wanted to see for myself if it was true before I took you both out of the equation.” He looked at Cassidy. “You killed Woody Goodman.”

Cassidy trembled but stood his ground.

“You gave me to him! You knew what would happen and you did it anyway!”

Big Dick’s upper lip peeled back from his teeth in a disdainful sneer.

“You know what your problem is, Cassidy? You could never let anything go. Your mother leaving, what Woody did . . . it’s made you small and weak! All things considered, I really think this is the most merciful thing to do. Dick Jr., come here.” Big Dick motioned his older son to his side, and Dick stepped in front of Cassidy instead. His father frowned. “Don’t be a fool. I might be able to spare you from Aaron’s anger if you come with me now, but if you stand with your brother and this . . . thing,” Big Dick motioned to Mick, “there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“Come with you? So you can turn me over to Logan’s dad like you did Beav? How much will I be worth, dad? A million? Two? What’s my hide worth, huh? You turned your son over to a monster to prove your loyalty to another monster! I used to think I wanted to be like you, but now I’d rather be something you hate than to be your son anymore!”

“You ungrateful little son of a bitch,” Big Dick spat, and trained the weapon on him. With speed only a vampire possessed, Dick grabbed a metal lid from one of the trash cans that lined the alley. He threw it with the accuracy of a young man who had spent many years pitching baseballs and throwing Frisbees, and the lid struck with full force. It rocked Big Dick’s head back as it struck his forehead, and he staggered back. Dick snarled, baring his fangs as he tackled his father to the ground. The flamethrower went off, sending searing licks of flame across the alley as it spun away. Mick jerked Cassidy out of harm’s way as Cassidy struggled to free himself and help his brother.

“Dick!”

Big Dick grunted as his son rolled them both into the row of trash cans. Garbage spilled into the alley and Dick pinned his father to the ground, eyes flaring a furious ice blue, fangs gleaming.

“You let Woody Goodman get his hands on Cassidy! You knew but you didn’t care!”

“He wanted you, too,” Big Dick panted, “but I told him you had too much potential to be ruined that way! Don’t you see? I protected you!”

“You should have protected Cassidy, too! He was your son!”

“After all the years you helped me torment him, suddenly you’re the big brother?” Big Dick mocked his son as he lashed out a foot in order to hook the flamethrower closer to himself. The weapon spun as he tried to draw it closer, and Dick caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. He got his legs up under him and sprang clear of Big Dick as his father’s shoe caught the gun under the trigger and depressed the comma-shaped lever. Flame coughed from the weapon’s muzzle and engulfed Big Dick at such close range that he barely had time to scream before the flesh was cooked from his bones. Mick pulled Cassidy against his chest, hiding the boy’s face from the sight. Dick got to his feet, his eyes wide as he stared at the smoldering, charred skeleton that had once been his father.

“Holy shit!”

“Dick, are you okay?” Mick asked as he got Cassidy into the car. Dick loped over and slid into the passenger’s seat.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he said, he said as he shut the door and glanced back at Cassidy as his brother lightly bumped a fist against Dick’s shoulder in relief. He tapped the younger boy’s hand in return and then shook his head as Mick backed up his car and sped from the alley. “I always told dad hair triggers were a bad idea.”

“He would have killed you,” Mick said as he left the building behind and sirens began to sound in the distance. Cassidy looked over his shoulder at the smoking hotel alley and then at Mick.

“What do we do now?”

Mick’s big hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“We stop Aaron from raising the Assassini out of hell . . . or get cast into it trying.”

 

[Part six/the conclusion](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/313133.html).


	6. Fic: "By the Light Of Neptune's Moon,"  Conclusion.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.

By the Light of Neptune’s Moon  
Author: [](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/)**lexalicious70**  
Fandom(s) Moonlight/Veronica Mars  
Pairings: No specific pairing; some m/m interaction with several characters.  
Genre: Drama, Crossover  
Rating: R for violence and some homoerotic situations  
Word Count: 21,260  
Summary: As a Blood Moon approaches in California, Josef Kostan must risk his own life to save the son he never knew he had from being sacrificed by the man who raised him—the man who is Josef’s mortal enemy and a vampire hunter. Josef must enlist the aid of both his best friend, Mick St. John, and his son’s friends before Aaron Echolls destroys Josef, his people, and the boy at the center of Aaron’s ritual sacrifice—Logan Echolls.  
A/N: This is for my own indulgence and for those who wish to read it; I am making no money from this. All characters are the property of Warner Bros—no copyright infringement intended. I don’t own the characters; they, as always, own me. This story took me six months to complete, and I would appreciate some feedback; it is always appreciated. I am my own beta, so please feel free to point out any errors you find so I can fix them, and of course, enjoy. The previous chapters can be found here:

[Chapter One](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/308881.html)   
[Chapter Two](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/309592.html)   
[Chapter Three](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/311061.html)   
[Chapter Four](http://www.livejournal.com/editjournal.bml?journal=lexalicious70&itemid=311569)   
[Chapter Five](http://lexalicious70.livejournal.com/312723.html)

CHAPTER SIX (Conclusion).

Josef came to consciousness and opened his eyes just as the last sliver of the California sun vanished below the horizon. He frowned in a muzzy kind of way as he realized he was at eye level with it, and then his body finally caught up with his consciousness to let him know that he was hanging upside down from an inverted iron cross. The crosses themselves were about four feet long and five inches wide, and Josef’s wrists were tightly tied to each one. He couldn’t raise his head, but he could feel that his ankles were lashed together at the top of the post. His head was about eight inches off the ground, and all he could see in the quickly fading light was sand and hardy-looking scrub brush. As a stiff breeze stirred sand into his eyes, Josef squeezed them shut and realized that he was also still naked as the breeze caused sand to spray across his skin in a fine curtain. He wiggled his fingers, and then tried to turn his head as he heard Logan’s voice, getting louder by the second, as if he was being carried toward where he hung.

“Please. Please, let me go!” Logan yelled, and then he came into Josef’s view as two of Aaron’s lackeys shoved the inverted cross Logan was tied to deep into a hole that had already been dug there. They shored it up tightly with large rocks and sand, the end of the cross buried deep into the earth so it wouldn’t tip or lean. Logan had been tied exactly as Josef had, with his arms extended and his ankles tied together at the top of the post. He was naked as well and gasping back his terror. The harsh sounds filled the emptiness of the stretch of desert Aaron had brought them to. Josef’s heart squeezed with grief.

“Logan,” he called gently, and the boy’s eyes swung around to meet his, inverted and glassy with terror.

“They’re going to kill us!” He said, and Josef knew that considering their current positions, he could hardly argue.

“Just try and stay calm. Mick, Cassidy, and Dick are still out there. Don’t count them out yet.”

“Aaron said they’re dead!” Logan struggled against the ropes that held his hands to the iron cross, and Josef shook his head.

“He said that to make you feel helpless, Logan. I know Mick. I’ve known him since he was sired back in early sixties. He’s smart, and he’ll keep Dick and Cassidy safe until he comes to help us. Trust me. We’re not dead yet!”

“The operative word being yet.” Aaron came over to them in a black robe trimmed with red and gold, his staff in one hand. He looked up at the darkening sky and then took a deep breath. “It’s a perfect evening. Soon, the Assassini will rise and destroy all of your kind, and I will have an army under my control, the likes of which no one has ever seen!”

Bound and upside-down as he was, Josef still smirked at the wizard.

“Wow. Did you read The Guide to Magical Clichés and Tropes, too? I couldn’t put it down! The chapter on magic wands was especially intriguing.”

“Mock me all you want, vampire,” Aaron replied. “We’ll see how many words you get in after the Assassini rip out your tongue and swallow it whole.” He nodded to one of his assistants. “Gag them tightly. I don’t want them interfering with the spell once it begins.”

“Oh God,” Logan whispered as the hooded men came forward with ball gags, and Josef cast him a quick glance.

“Remember, Logan. Trust me!” He said just before one of the men forced the ball into his mouth and pulled the leather straps to the back of his head and buckled them closed. Logan closed his eyes as the same was done to him, and then his father raised his staff to the night sky as two more of his assistants drew a circle around him and the bound vampires with thick black paint, staining the sand beneath them. When the circle was closed, the wind kicked up as Aaron began to chant in Latin. Logan struggled, his head whipping from side to side, but Josef stayed perfectly still, as if he’d already accepted their fate.

_“Luminarius, deviticus, forzares!”_ Aaron chanted. “In the name of the first, He Who Shed the First Blood, I call you forth! I call you forth into my service!” Aaron called, and the ground before him began to shudder and quake. “Come forth and accept my sacrifice of ancient blood and its issue! Come forth; accept this circle of power and blood! Accept my call to the hunt!”

The wind rose to a shriek as the ground continued to shake, although Aaron kept his footing. A massive fault then appeared in the ground, and then the fissure broke open, releasing steam and an orange glow, as if from a massive fire they couldn’t see. Aaron raised his staff higher. “Come forth, come forth!”

A hell-borne shriek broke from the fissure and a creature stepped up from the crack. It was over fifteen feet tall and as pale as a worm, its body wrinkled, the massive head ridged with something that looked like the spine of a large fish. Horns curved from behind its ears, like a wild ram. Its mouth was a gaping maw of jagged razorblades that looked as though they could eat a full-grown man in one gulp. The eyes were tiny and red with no corneas, and the nose was two slanted horizontal lines that sucked open and shut, as if scenting the air. Its massive four-fingered hands opened as it climbed from the pit, each finger tipped with a thick yellow nail sharper than barbed wire. Its beady gaze focused on Aaron, who raised his staff.

“In the name of the First, I bind you into my service with an offering of ancient blood, a circle of power! Drink!” He called to the general of the Killers of Darkness. Below, in the pit, the general’s army shrieked and bellowed to be set free as well. The general’s nostrils opened again, and lines of thick mucus grew and broke between the top and bottom of the thick ridges. Logan, who was facing Aaron and the demon, began to scream in panic through his gag as the demon’s gaze slowly shifted to him and Josef. Josef’s eyes remained closed, his limbs completely still.

“Shed the ancient blood! Tear the circle open!” Aaron shouted as the general’s eyes narrowed, as if he was deciding whether or not to accept the offer or to make a meal of Aaron instead. As Aaron watched, elated, his dark eyes dancing with mad glee, a brash and strident voice suddenly called out from behind him, from outside the circle.

“Hey! Tall white and ugly! Hey! Over here!”

Aaron didn’t dare tear his binding gaze from the demon, who was under his control for the moment, but he recognized the voice as belonging to the older Casablancas boy, Logan’s best friend, Dick. The general gave a low keening growl, and Dick’s voice grew louder.

“Yeah, that’s right, you reject from the Lair of the White Worm! You wanna dance, huh? Come on out here if you think you can take a bite out of me!”

The general growled again, and Aaron sent more of his will through the spell to keep control over him. Below, in the pit, the general’s minions caught their leader’s anger and continued to shriek their eagerness to feed. The general shook his head like an angry bull, but his eyes remained on Aaron. To Dick’s left, on the outside of the circle, hidden behind some scrub brush with Cassidy, Mick hissed to his young friend.

“Don’t stop now, Dick!”

Dick licked his lips and tossed his hair from his eyes.

“So you’re gonna stay over there with your wizzy-daddy, huh? Guess it’s best that you do! If you come out here, I’ll kick your wrinkled ass all the way back to hell!” Dick bared his fangs and his eyes flared like frozen, sun-lit water. This display enraged the general, who tossed his head again and let out a bellow that shook the ground beneath them. Cassidy watched, pressed close to Mick.

“It’s not working! He’s not going to break the circle to go after Dick!”

Mick shook his head.

“He won’t have to! Just keep your head down!”

“You got a free lunch here!” Dick shouted at the general as he slapped his own chest. “Or are you too chicken shit to take me on?” He grinned. “Guess I’ll go snack on some old ladies or something, since you’re not going to stop me! Killer of Darkness my ass! More like the Doorstop of Darkness!” Dick bared his fangs widely at the demon in a mocking grin, and the general went berserk with rage. He threw his massive head back and roared so loudly that sand rose up around him and the scrub brush nearby shook. He lifted one massive foot high, the thickly-plated kneecap flexing, and then he slammed it hard into the earth, leaving a deep depression and sending out an impact tremor that threw everyone and everything to the ground. Josef opened his eyes as he felt the cross he was tied to fall backwards, shattering Aaron’s circle of magic. Aaron’s body jerked as if he’d been shot and he felt the leash of his will that connected him to the general weaken.

“No!” He shouted. “No! Accept my sacrifice! An offering of ancient blood! Spill the blood and bring forth your army!”

Josef watched as Logan toppled over as well, falling out of his line of vision, but he could scent Mick and his sons nearby. A moment later the scent grew stronger, and then Mick was freeing Josef’s hands from the cross and yanking the ball gag from his mouth as Cassidy and Dick freed Logan. Mick hauled Josef to his feet.

“Come on, before Aaron loses control of that thing and we’re all dead!”

Josef paused to look his best friend in the eye. A wry smile touched the corners of his mouth.

“For a blood-sucking demon, you’re a hell of a good guy, Mick. But I can’t let Aaron let that thing loose on the earth, whether he’s got control of it or not.”

“Josef, no! What are you going to—you’re crazy, there’s nothing you can do!”

“There is.” His dark eyes met Mick’s green-blue ones. “The first one to shed my blood within the circle gains control of the general and his army.” Josef nodded to Dick and Cassidy. “Get Logan away from here.” He hauled up one of the crosses and swept it in a wide circle around himself, Aaron, and the demon, repairing the circle he’d broken and locking Mick and the boys out of it. The general roared again in what sounded like triumph, and Mick’s shout of dismay was drowned out completely. Josef pushed his hair from his eyes.

“Get Logan out of here!” He shouted again, and then turned to face the general. The demon snuffled low and a runner of drool dripped from his jaws. Aaron sensed Josef’s presence within the repaired circle and raised his staff again.

“Accept my sacrifice! Spill the ancient one’s blood and bring forth your army!”

Josef cocked his head and gave the demon an obliging smile.

“Please, allow me,” he said, and raised his wrist to his mouth as he bared his fangs. He sunk them deep into the flesh of his own wrist and pulled open a wound from which blood pumped forth. It hit the ground in a rapid patter and the sand turned a deep garnet as it was absorbed. Aaron cried out and dropped his staff as he felt a massive shift in power, and the general barked out a loud, echoing yell as well, his massive body hunching down, his head tilted to one side. Aaron turned to Josef, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“No!” He shouted. “No, you can’t!”

“Can. Did.” Josef replied with a smile that never touched his eyes as they flared silver-blue. He turned to the general, whose red eyes glowed as they rested on the one who had spilled the blood of an ancient. Josef wriggled his foot under Aaron’s fallen staff, flipped it up into his right hand, and made certain he had a good grip on it before he swung it in a bone-cracking arc, shattering Aaron’s jaw.

“For my kneecap.” He watched a stunned disbelief fill Aaron’s eyes and then hit him again in the right temple. The wizard fell to the ground.

“For my friends you killed nineteen years ago.”

Aaron gasped, blood flowing from his head as he stared up at Josef, who grasped the staff with both hands. He cracked it over his good knee, cleaving it off at a sharp angle, leaving one end as deadly as a stake.

“No,” he croaked, and Josef raised the long piece of oak over his head.

“For Logan, you murdering son of a bitch,” he said, and drove the piece of wood deep into Aaron’s gut, impaling him and pinning him to the earth. Aaron writhed and gagged, and Josef looked up at the demon.

“Soup’s on. When you’re done, you all go back where you came from. Forever. And please replace all divots.” Josef glanced over at the huge crack in the earth.

The general roared a command to his army, who rushed out of the fissure of the earth to feast on Aaron as the wizard screamed out his death. Josef tipped his head up to the night sky as the _Assassini_ ripped Aaron apart. The sound of his sons’ voices calling Josef’s name behind him filled Josef with a different kind of power before the stars winked out and darkness took him in its velvet embrace.

 

He awoke two days later to find himself looking at his own reflection. Josef had time to muse over how clear the glass of the mirror was, and then the reflection spoke.

“Dad? Can you hear me?”

Josef blinked and then the corners of his mouth quirked up as he realized he’d mistaken Logan’s face for his own reflection. _You always were a vain bastard, Josef Kostan . . ._

“Dad.” Logan said more firmly, and Josef managed a nod.

“I hear you, Logan.”

Relief flooded Logan’s features and then a spoon touched Josef’s lips. His nostrils flared at the smell of fresh blood and he opened his mouth, hunger suddenly surging through him. Logan tipped the spoonful of red liquid up between Josef’s lips.

“Easy, just drink it slow.”

“I’m hungry.”

“I know. We’ve got a freshie for you when you’re well enough.” Logan spooned up more blood and fed him a few more sips. “How are you feeling?”

“A little more of the good type O, and I’ll be good as new.” Josef squirmed into a sitting position and winced as his shattered kneecap reminded him it wasn’t quite healed yet. Logan helped him up and then propped a few pillows behind him.

“You passed out after the _Assassini_ rose up and killed Aaron. Mick figured we were all dead meat, but when they were done, they just . . .” Logan made a gesture with his hand. “They just crawled back into the hole they’d come from, and it closed up, and that was that. Still not sure why.”

“I spilled my own blood inside the circle,” Josef said softly. “Once I did that, I was the one who had the power over the general and his army. I told them to go back where they came from when they were done with their dinner.”

Logan nodded a little.

“So you ordered them to kill Aaron.”

“I did. For what he planned on doing, for what he did to my friends nineteen years ago . . . for what he did to you.” Josef looked up at his son. “I know he raised you—”

“If you mean did he feed and clothe me, yes. But he was never any kind of father to me. I wish he had been. I’d be a better man if he had.”

Josef smiled and reached out to touch Logan’s hand.

“There’s nothing wrong with the kind of man you are. You’re loyal to your brothers, and you were willing to put yourself in harm’s way to protect your mother. You trusted me when I told you the truth, and it takes a great deal of courage to willingly allow yourself to be sired, Logan. If I were you, I wouldn’t take that lightly.” He squeezed Logan’s hand and Logan returned it, tilting his head to one side.

“Maybe if I hang around you awhile, I can go from good to better.”

“Or you can become an insufferable ass, just like your old man of a sire.”

“More than he is now? Dude. I don’t think that’s possible.” Dick said from the doorway. Cassidy and Mick looked over his shoulder, Cassidy rising up on his tiptoes to do so. Logan rolled his eyes.

“This from the guy who once broke up with a girl in the middle of a date. By text. From the men’s room of the restaurant they were eating at!”

Cassidy grinned as they all came into the room. Thanks to an ample supply of freshies from Mick, they had all fed well while they had waited for Josef to heal. Dick shrugged.

“Dude, can you blame me? She spent half the date talking about kittens. Kittens!”

“I like kittens,” Josef said, and Dick raised a blonde brow.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. They’re delicious.”

Mick gave his friend a long-suffering glance.

“Josef.”

“I think he’s feeling better,” Cassidy observed as he sat on the edge of the bed. Josef smiled at his youngest and reached over to touch his hair, pleased when the boy didn’t shy away.

“Are you all right?” He asked, glancing over at Dick to include him in the query, and Cassidy nodded.

“Despite that fact that our dad tried to deep fry us with a flamethrower back at that hotel, we’re fine.”

“You would have been proud of them,” Mick said. “They both faced him very bravely.”

“Where’s Big Dick now?” Josef asked, and Dick shrugged.

“Probably stuck to the underside of a street sweeper. He barbecued himself with the flamethrower when I tried to stop him from baking the Beav.”

“As weapons go, it’s not a poor choice when facing a vampire, but they do tend to be deadly when pointed in the wrong direction.” Mick nodded, and Josef chuckled.

“I’d say so.” He looked up at Dick and Cassidy. “Well done . . . I’m proud of both of you. Of all of you, actually. You all have the makings of fine vampires.”

“So what happens now?” Cassidy asked, and Josef felt hunger burn at his insides again.

“Our secrets are safe and our kind is out of danger with Aaron gone and the _Assassini_ banished. So what happens now is that Mick will be so kind as to run me a bath, and you boys will kindly go and fetch your sire that freshie that you have stashed in the next room.”

“He’s definitely feeling better,” Mick rolled his eyes as he patted Josef’s shoulder and left to go fill the tub for his friend. Josef folded his hands behind his head as he watched the boys—his boys—all leave the room together. They were young and they were inexperienced, but Josef knew potential when he saw it.

He had, after all, made his millions by recognizing and nurturing potential.

Josef smiled and watched the night gather in around him like a lover, taking him into its dark, thrilling embrace as he waited for his family to return to him.

THE END


End file.
